5/^7/04 
LIBRARY    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 
PRESENTED  BY 

PRES.    F.    L.    PATTON 

Division..!! 

Section. ..x. 


1 668 


GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN: 

THE  DOCTRINE 


OF  THE 


INSPIRATION  OF  HOLY  SCRIPTURE 

EXPLAINED  AND  ENFORCED***-*  _ 

\>'    - 

( *  5/ &' 

REV.  EDWARD  GARBETT,  IfrSg&tfJcal  $f  ^ 


AUTHOR  OF  "RELIGION  IN  DAILY  LIFE  ;" 

INCUMBENT  OP  CHRIST  CHURCH,  SURBITON ;  BOYLE  LECTURER  FOR   1861,  1SC2,  AND 
1S63;  SELECT  TREACHER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  OXFORD  IN  1S62  AND  1863. 


"  Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."   2  Pet.  1 :  21. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 
AMERICAN  TRACT   SOCIETY, 

150  NASSAU-STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 


The  object  of  the  following  pages  is  to  explain, 
and  in  explaining  to  enforce,  the  doctrine  of  the 
plenary  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture.  On  the 
general  subject  I  believe  an  entire  concurrence  of 
opinion  to  exist  between  myself  and  the  Society 
under  whose  auspices  the  work  has  been  prepared. 
But  for  the  method  of  the  argument,  and  the  de- 
tailed views  maintained  in  the  course  of  it,  I  am 
solely  responsible. 

The  method  adopted  will  probably  appear  to 
some  minds  to  include  matters  not  strictly  related 
to  the  subject  of  which  I  profess  to  treat.  I  ear- 
nestly crave  the  indulgence  of  my  readers  on  this 
point,  and  ask  for  their  patient  forbearance  during 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  argument.  In  support  of 
this  plea  I  am  anxious  briefly  to  explain  for  what 
reasons  this  particular  line  has  been  selected.  It 
will  appear,  I  believe,  that  no  topic  has  been  intro- 
duced devoid  of  an  immediate  and  important  bear- 
ing on  the  specific  question  of  inspiration,  and  not 
requisite  for  the  elucidation  of  some  vital  principle. 


4  PKEFACE. 

The  most  embarrassing  difficulty  in  the  settle- 
ment of  this  great  question  has  long  appeared  to 
me  to  consist  in  the  ambiguous  use  of  terms.  So 
long  as  the  same  words  or  phrases  convey  different 
meanings  to  the  various  parties  to  the  controversy, 
there  cannot  be  the  slightest  chance  of  even  an 
approximation  to  unity  of  opinion.  There  is  not  a 
distinctive  phrase  employed  in  the  discussion  which 
has  wholly  escaped  this  ambiguity  of  usage.  The 
term  "inspiration"  is  itself  no  exception.  All  par- 
ties perfectly  understand  the  nature  of  the  thing 
denoted,  and  the  bearings  of  the  question  at  issue; 
but  they  differ  very  considerably  in  the  definition 
they  are  prepared  to  accept.  The  familiar  terms 
"mechanical"  and  "dynamical"  afford  another  ex- 
ample. We  are  told,  for  instance,  that  verbal  in- 
spiration must  necessarily  be  mechanical;  and  the 
writer  who  makes  the  assertion,  consistently  enough 
with  his  own  theory,  considers  himself  to  have 
proved  that  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  was 
not  verbal,  when  he  has  proved  that  it  was  not 
mechanical.  In  other  quarters  the  significance  and 
relative  bearing  of  the  words  "inspiration"  and 
"revelation"  have  been  eagerly  discussed.  The 
expressions  "Divine  element"  and  "human  ele- 
ment" have  been  the  centre  of  a  circle  of  ambiguities 
of  their  own.  An  able  writer  of  late  date  maintains 
that  verbal  inspiration  is  logically  inconsistent  with 
the  admission  of  a  human  element  in  Scripture ; 
while  a  learned  professor  in  one  of  our  ancient  uni- 


PEEFACE.  5 

versities  has  publicly  employed  the  words  "  human 
element"  as  avowed  equivalent  to  the  asserted  fact 
of  human  mistakes  in  the  sacred  writings. 

These  complicated  misapprehensions  render  the 
employment  of  the  utmost  caution  necessary  in  all 
who  desire  to  maintain  a  positive  doctrine  of  inspi- 
ration. They  embarrass  a  believer  in  proportion  as 
they  supply  valuable  weapons  to  the  skeptic.  To 
commence  a  work  of  this  kind  with  a  string  of 
definitions,  before  some  common  truths  have  been 
reached  and  common  principles  accepted,  would  be 
to  plunge  headlong  into  the  very  perplexities  which 
it  is  a  matter  of  the  highest  moment  to  remove.  I 
have,  therefore,  been  anxious  to  avoid  all  defini- 
tions during  the  earlier  steps  of  the  argument,  and 
to  reserve  such  formal  propositions  as  might  be  ne- 
cessary for  its  latest  stages.  The  inductive  method 
offered  the  only  means  of  securing  this  object.  I 
have,  therefore,  endeavored  to  base  my  arguments 
on  facts,  and  from  facts  to  ascend  to  principles. 

Two  advantages  are  secured  by  this  plan.  The 
course  of  the  inquiry  is  simplified.  At  each  step  of 
it  the  reader  has  but  to  ask,  Are  these  things  so? 
And  if  the  answer  be  in  the  affirmative,  to  consider 
for  himself  the  conclusions  founded  on  them.  I 
have  also  been  enabled  to  avoid,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, the  ambiguous  terms  already  alluded  to.  With 
the  exception  of  the  word  "inspiration"  itself,  and 
the  phrases  "Divine  element"  and  "human  ele- 
ment," which  I  have  found  it  impossible  to  avoid 


6  PKEFACE. 

without  prolixity,  none  of  thein  will  be  found  in 
these  pages. 

It  would  be  presumptuous  to  expect  that  their 
contents  will  carry  conviction  to  all  classes  of  read- 
ers. To  some  I  venture  to  hope  that  the  argument 
will  carry  the  same  conclusiveness  which  it  has  to 
my  own  mind.  Where  it  does  not  convince,  it  may 
yet  assist  in  some  measure  towards  laying  down  a 
broader  and  more  satisfactory  platform  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  great  and  vital  question.  It  is  too 
great  to  be  hedged  up  into  some  special  corner  of 
theology ;  for  it  pervades  all  theology  from  end  to 
end.  I  commend  these  pages  to  the  blessing  of 
God,  with  a  profounder  conviction  than  ever  of  the 
supreme  authority  and  absolute  truth  of  God's 
Word  written. 

EDWAKD  GARBETT. 

SUKBITON,  SUKREY. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
What  is  Christianity? page      9 

CHAPTER  II. 

Christianity  identified  with  the  Christian  Scriptures 24 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Authority  of  the  Christian  Scriptures 36 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  whole  Scriptures  are  the  Word  of  God 61 

CHAPTER  V. 

Does  the  Scripture  bear  Witness  to  Itself ;  and  how  ? 89 

CHAPTER  YI. 

The  Testimony  of  Scripture  to  its  Own  Character 101 

CHAPTER  YII. 
The  Scriptures  are  the  True  Word  of  God 118 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  Revelation  implies  Two  Parties,  and  therefore  Two  Elements  138 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Human  Element  of  Scripture  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Divine  148 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK  X. 

The  Divine  Element  of  Scripture  in  Its  Eelation  to  the  Human  1  GO 

CHAPTER  XL 

What  is  Truth? - 177 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Historical  Truth 191 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Truth  of  Scripture  proved  by  the  Testimony  of  Facts  -  -  -  210 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Evidence  of  Experience 236 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Alleged  Instances  of  Inaccuracy  in  Scripture  examined  and  ex- 
plained   - — - 257 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Word  of  God  is  verbally  inspired 289 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Objections  against  Verbal  Inspiration  considered- 321 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Recapitulation  and  Summary 313 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Conclusion - 367 


GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 


CHAPTER   I. 

WHAT  18  CHRISTIANITY? 

Relation  of  Christianity  to  the  Christian  Scriptures — Christianity  a 
Definite  Historical  System — Origin  and  Meaning  of  the  Word — ■ 
Christianity  as  a  Faith,  and  the  Christian  Church  as  a  Society — 
Influence  of  Christianity  upon  the  World — Elements  of  its 
Power  —  Its  Supernatural  Element  —  Its  Doctrinal  Form  — 
Church  Creeds— Their  Circumstantial  Diversities  and  Sub- 
stantial Identity. 

"  God's  Word  written,"  is  the  title  applied  by 
the  church  of  England  to  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  Xew  Testaments  ;  and  the  phrase  expresses  the 
concurrent  belief  of  the  church  catholic  throughout 
all  lands  and  ages.  The  title  either  expresses  one 
of  the  grandest  facts  it  is  possible  for  us  to  conceive, 
or  one  of  the  fondest  delusions  ever  palmed  by  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  upon  the  credulity  of  mankind. 
A  revelation  from  God,  as  truly  his  as  if  his  voice 
of  thunder  uttered  it  audibly  from  the  skies,  would 
be  among  the  grandest  of  known  facts.     The  appli- 


10  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

cation  of  so  great  a  title  as  "  God's  word  written"  to 
a  fragmentary  collection  of  human  traditions  and 
human  theories,  would  be  among  the  fondest  of 
existing  delusions.  It  is  certain  that  the  early 
fathers,  and  also  the  great  divines  of  the  church  of 
England,  from  the  Reformation  period  down  to 
recent  times,  accepted  the  Scriptures  as  the  infalli- 
ble word  of  God,  conclusive  on  all  questions  of  reli- 
gious belief,  and  binding  on  faith  and  conscience. 
Modern  rationalism  loudly  affirms  this  belief  to  be 
a  mistake,  and  irreconcilable  with  the  results  of 
modern  criticism.  To  examine  the  grounds  of  this 
allegation,  and  gather,  from  a  careful  induction  of 
all  the  facts  of  the  case,  what  are  the  true  character 
and  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  is  the  object  of  the 
present  work. 

Foremost  among  these  facts  is  the  relation  held 
by  the  canonical  SciTptures  towards  Christianity 
itself.  It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  they  are  wholly 
independent  of  each  other.  It  is  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  carry  the  inquiry  a  step  backward,  and  ask, 
What  is  it  we  mean  by  Christianity  ? 

St.  Luke  records,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
11 :  26,  that  the  disciples  were  called  Christians  first 
at  Antioch.  The  epithet  is  an  evident  enlargement 
of  the  honored  name  of  Christ,  the  official  title  of 
the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  suggests  the  intimate 
dependence  of  the  religion  professed  upon  the  per- 
son of  its  divine  Founder.  The  recognition  of  places 
and  persons  as  a  bond  of  union  between  sections  of 
mankind,  and  the  consequent  derivation  from  them 
of  distinctive  names,  had  long  been  familiar  before 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY?  11 

the  times  of  our  Lord.  All  the  great  kingdoms  of 
antiquity  supply  instances  of  generic  names.  This 
was  probably  the  beginning  of  the  habit.  It  soon 
acquired  more  particular  application.  The  schools 
of  ancient  philosophy  followed  each  other  in  rapid 
succession;  and  each  of  them,  as  it  took  definite 
form  and  gathered  disciples,  gave  rise  to  a  corre- 
sponding name.  Stoics  and  Academics  derived 
their  name  from  the  localities  where  the  respective 
systems  were  taught;  Pythagoreans,  Epicureans, 
and  Platonists,  from  the  person  of  the  teacher.  It 
was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  verbal  analogy 
should  be  followed  in  the  case  of  the  disciples  of 
our  Master  ;  and  that  the  lively  inhabitants  of  An- 
tioch,  famous  for  wit  and  satire,  should  be  the  first 
to  suggest  it.  The  disciples  were  called  Christians 
from  Christ,  as  others  were  called  Pythagoreans 
from  Pythagoras,  Epicureans  from  Epicurus,  Plato- 
nists from  Plato.  Another  natural  step  in  advance 
formed  the  name  of  the  system  from  the  name  of 
the  men  who  followed  it.  As  Stoicism  expressed 
the  bond  of  union  common  to  all  Stoics ;  Platonism 
the  bond  common  to  all  Platonists;  so  Christianity 
expresses  the  bond  of  union  common  to  all  Chris- 
tians. 

The  analogy  illustrates  not  only  the  origin  of 
the  name,  but  likewise  the  ideas  involved  in  it,  and 
the  necessary  limits  of  its  use.  The  ideas  involved 
are  two :  the  idea  of  a  society  more  or  less  intimate, 
more  or  less  organized  according  to  the  nature  ot 
the  case ;  and  the  idea  of  a  defined  system  of  thought 
out  of  which  it  has  grown.     The  claim  of  member- 


12  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

ship  in  the  society  would  include  discipleship  to 
the  system.  No  man,  for  instance,  could  fairly 
appropriate  the  name  of  Platonist  who  did  not  share 
the  opinions  of  Plato.  To  originate  a  new  system, 
either  by  the  omission  of  some  essential  principles 
from  the  old,  or  by  the  addition  of  new  particulars, 
and  yet  to  call  it  by  the  old  name,  would  not  be 
consistent  with  either  truth  or  honesty.  It  would 
not  be  consistent  with  truth,  because  the  title  and 
the  thing  signified  by  it  would  no  longer  correspond ; 
it  would  not  be  consistent  with  honesty,  because 
such  an  ambiguous  use  of  words  would  only  deceive. 
This  rule  would  become  more  absolute  in  proportion 
to  the  length  of  time  during  which  the  name  has 
been  thus  appropriated,  and  the  number  and  pub- 
licity of  the  events  associated  with  it.  Established 
usage  and  historical  association  would  combine  to 
invest  the  title  both  with  definiteness  and  with 
authority.  The  principle  has  been  admitted  and 
acted  upon  in  past  times.  After  the  establishment 
of  Christianity,  a  great  effort  was  made,  both  within 
and  without  the  limits  of  the  church,  to  combine 
the  principles  of  Plato  with  the  teaching  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures;  but  the  advocates  of  the  sys- 
tem did  not  venture  to  call  it  by  the  old  name,  Pla- 
tonism ;  recognizing  its  distinctness  alike  of  inter- 
nal character  and  of  historical  descent,  they  modi- 
fied the  name  accordingly,  and  called  it  Neo-Pla- 
tonism. 

The  same  principles  of  usage  should,  in  all  can- 
dor, be  applied  to  Christianity.  To  form  an  ideal 
person,  different  from  the  historical  personage  born 


WHAT  IS  CHKISTIANITY?  13 

at  Bethlehem  and  crucified  upon  Calvary — to  sur- 
round him  with  attributes  and  characteristics  dif- 
ferent from  what  are  imputed  to  him  in  the  author- 
itative records  of  the  faith — to  connect  him  with  a 
system  of  teaching  varying  from  the  doctrines  inau- 
gurated under  his  authority,  and  then  to  call  this 
new  production  Christianity,  is  to  do  in  regard  to 
things  religious  what  no  man  has  ventured  or  would 
venture  to  do  in  regard  to  things  secular.  The  mo- 
rality of  religious  controversy  would  be  lowered,  by 
assent  to  such  an  act,  below  the  standard  of  all  other 
controversy.  Mutual  misapprehension  and  danger- 
ous mistakes  could  be  its  only  result.  The  name  of 
Christianity  is  already  appropriated  to  one  defined 
form  of  religion,  by  virtue  alike  of  the  society  called 
into  existence  and  of  the  belief  on  which  it  is 
founded,  and  cannot  be  transferred  to  any  other. 
The  two  have  ever  existed  together  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era  to  our  own  day.  Down 
the  whole  line  of  these  nineteen  hundred  years,  the 
outward  society  has  existed  alike  by  unbroken  de- 
scent and  by  continuity  of  belief.  The  creed  taught 
by  the  church  of  England,  from  the  times  of  the 
Reformation  to  the  present  day,  can  be  shown  by 
undoubted  proofs  to  be  the  same  as  was  taught  in 
the  primitive  and  apostolic  times.  The  reformers 
laid  great  stress  upon  this  fact.  The  Eomish  church 
admits  it  equally.  Her  documents  claim  the  right 
to  add  additional  truth  to  the  body  of  doctrine  held 
by  the  reformed  churches ;  but  they  never  deny 
that  this  body  of  doctrine  is  both  primitive  and 
apostolical.     The  whole  of  Christendom  may,  there- 


14  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

fore,  be  called  as  witness  to  the  existence  of  an  iden- 
tical faith  in  the  church  of  Christ  from  the  day  of 
Pentecost  till  now.  This  faith  has,  moreover,  been 
maintained  and  handed  down  by  a  society  compris- 
ing many  branches,  and  subject  to  many  modifica- 
tions, but  identified,  nevertheless,  throughout  them 
all,  by  points  of  external  habit  and  organization, 
such  as  public  worship,  the  sacraments,  and  the 
ministry.  This  defined  and  continuous  society  is 
the  church  of  Christ ;  and  the  S}*stem  constituting 
its  bond  of  union,  alike  in  its  inward  life  and  its 
outward  doctrines,  is  Christianity. 

By  Christianity,  therefore,  we  do  not  mean  any 
imaginary  belief  about  any  imaginary  Christ,  but 
we  mean  the  definite  religion  preached,  in  its  com- 
pleted form,  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  cen- 
tred around  the  personal  Christ  described  by  the 
four  evangelists,  incorporated  in  the  society  speci- 
fied in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostle,  expanded  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  apostolic  epistles,  and  propheti- 
cally depicted  in  the  great  outlines  of  its  outward 
fortunes  in  the  book  of  the  Apocalypse. 

This  identification  of  the  word  "Christianity" 
with  a  known  historical  system  is  confirmed  when, 
having  specified  what  we  intend  by  it,  we  go  on  to 
examine  more  closely  into  its  nature.  Let  us  sup- 
pose the  attention  of  a  thoughtful  and  educated 
man  to  be  seriously  drawn  for  the  first  time  to  the 
claims  and  promises  of  this  Christianity.  Up  to 
this  time  he  has  received  the  ordinary  education 
given  in  a  Christian  household  ;  but  the  subject  has 
never  previously  interested  his  feelings  or  actively 


WHAT  IS  CHBISTIANITY?  15 

occupied  his  understanding.  Perhaps  his  studies 
in  other  directions  have  brought  him  into  contact 
with  the  question.  Perhaps  the  prominence  of 
modern  controversy  has  called  his  attention  to  it. 
Perhaps  the  influence  of  some  Christian  example 
has  reacted  upon  him,  and  he  is  tempted  to  inquire 
into  the  sources  of  its  spiritual  power.  Perhaps 
the  great  questions  of  life  and  death  have  been 
brought  home  to  him,  and  the  moral  wants  of  his 
own  soul  have  begun  to  make  themselves  felt.  Per- 
haps, in  the  spirit  of  a  former  Lord  Lyttleton  and 
of  Mr.  West,  he  wishes  to  examine  in  order  to  refute ; 
and,  like  them,  has  the  honesty  to  inquire  and  the 
candor  to  be  convinced.  Whatever  may  be  the 
cause,  he  sits  himself  down  to  search  into  the  ques- 
tion, and  examine  for  himself  the  foundations  of 
Christianity. 

His  inquiry  necessarily  starts  from  the  stand- 
point of  his  own  times  and  his  own  position  towards 
them.  It  would  not  be  just,  nor  is  it  possible  for 
him  to  leave  them  out  of  view.  His  object  is  to 
investigate  an  actual,  not  an  imaginary  Christian- 
ity ;  and  he  must  deal  with  the  case,  therefore,  not 
as  it  might  conceivably  have  been,  but  as  it  actu- 
ally is.  The  beginning  of  Christianity  cannot  be 
the  beginning  of  his  inquiry  about  it.  The  first  in 
order  of  time  is  the  last  in  order  of  investigation. 
He  begins  from  his  own  stand-point,  and  commences 
with  the  facts  of  the  case  as  presented  in  his  own 
times  and  related  to  his  own  position. 

He  finds  Christianity  to  be  the  dominant  reli- 
gion of  the  world.     This  fact  is  the  more  striking 


16  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

because  it  is  not  the  religion  of  the  greatest  number 
of  mankind.  There  are  wide  tracts  of  the  earth's 
surface  peopled  by  teeming  millions  either  ignorant 
of  its  existence  or  contemptuously  incredulous  of  its 
claims.  The  votaries  of  Buddha  outnumber  the  dis- 
oiples  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  beyond  all  comparison. 
But  these  wide  regions  are  the  sterile  plains  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  world.  A  stereotyped  civili- 
zation that  has  outgrown  its  own  vitality,  and  is 
like  a  dead  leaf  retaining  the  form  of  its  former  self, 
but  performing  none  of  its  functions ;  or  a  quies- 
cent and  self-satisfied  stagnation  of  all  life  and  activ- 
ity brood  over  them,  depressing  energy  and  crush- 
ing effort.  Every  nation  prominent  in  the  transac- 
tions of  the  world  is,  without  exception,  professedly 
Christian.  Within  Christendom  are  included  all 
the  springs  of  enterprise  and  wealth ;  all  the  active 
influences  of  art,  science,  and  civilization;  all  the 
wheels  of  the  world's  political  action,  and  the  secret 
causes  of  its  movements.  The  portion  of  the  globe 
occupied  by  Christianity  constitutes  a  small  portion 
of  its  surface,  but  reigns  the  acknowledged  mistress 
of  all  the  rest. 

Within  these  limits  Christianity  exercises  a 
moral  influence  without  a  parallel  elsewhere.  Un- 
equally exercised,  and  exhibiting  a  restraining  and 
ameliorating  power  even  where  its  highest  effects 
are  absent,  it  stands  without  an  equal,  almost  with- 
out a  rival,  in  the  education  of  mankind.  No  other 
power  but  itself  claims  to  regenerate  human  nature 
after  so  lofty  a  model.  The  facts  are  too  evident 
for  denial,  that  it  succeeds  in  making  the  drunkard 


WHAT  IS  CHEISTIANITY  ?  17 

sober,  the  profligate  chaste,  the  liar  truthful,  the 
cheat  honest,  the  idle  industrious,  the  cruel  gentle, 
the  churl  generous,  the  disorderly  peaceful  and  obe- 
dient. It  is  accepted  as  an  instrument  of  govern- 
ment where  it  is  rejected  as  a  means  of  personal 
happiness.  It  has  covered  the  world  with  schools 
and  hospitals  and  institutions — a  costly  and  elabo- 
rate apparatus  of  benevolence,  to  which  nothing 
remotely  corresponding  ever  existed  before.  It  has 
evoked  a  self-denying  zeal  and  an  amount  of  labor 
for  the  good  of  other  men  so  enormous  as  to  make 
adequate  calculation  impossible.  No  want  appears 
to  be  too  minute  to  escape  the  anxiety  of  Christian 
benevolence,  no  enterprise  too  gigantic  to  exhaust 
its  energy.  The  voluntary  efforts  of  individuals 
accomplish  what  no  compulsory  organization  could 
attempt.  In  the  course  of  these  ceaseless  and  pro- 
digious labors  all  over  the  world,  it  has  wrought  so 
great  a  change  in  human  habits,  opinions,  and  prin- 
ciples, as  to  amount  to  a  revolution.  Whether 
Christianity  be  true  or  false,  it  is  confessedly  the 
most  amazing  moral  force  ever  exhibited  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind. 

The  adoption  of  this  conclusion  suggests  a  fur- 
ther inquiry  relative  to  the  sources  of  this  power 
and  the  nature  of  the  religion  which  exercises  it. 
"What  is  Christianity,  and  what  the  elements  of  its 
influence  ?  The  reply  is  given  by  putting  into  the 
hands  of  the  inquirer  some  authorized  confession 
of  faith.  Let  us  suppose  it  to  be  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England.  A  comparison  of  them  with 
other  church  confessions  serves  easily  to  eliminate 


18  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  distinctive  peculiarities  belonging  to  any  par- 
ticular branch  of  the  universal  society,  and  to  leave 
behind  the  common  principles  of  the  Christian  faith. 
These  principles  constitute  a  formal  and  complete 
body  of  doctrine,  united  by  a  close  dependency  of 
one  part  upon  another.  The  truths  themselves  are 
of  the  grandest  and  most  elevating  description, 
including  divine  action  as  well  as  human,  and  ex- 
tending to  the  prospects,  wants,  and  hopes  of  uni- 
versal human  kind.  Certain  broad  characteristics 
distinguish  them  sharply  from  all  known  systems 
of  human  thought.  They  are  not  speculations,  a 
fabric  woven  out  of  the  operations  of  the  human 
mind,  but  definite  statements  made  with  the  tone  of 
conscious  authority  and  truthfulness.  They  profess 
to  be  based  throughout  on  a  substructure  of  actual 
facts,  events  either  completely  transacted,  or  begun 
and  still  in  process  of  transaction.  These  facts  are 
partly  supernatural,  accomplished  by  God  himself 
in  the  sphere  of  the  unseen  world ;  such  as  the  ses- 
sion of  Christ  in  glory,  his  mediation  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father,  his  government  over  the  world, 
and  the  act  of  a  sinner's  justification  before  God. 
Others  are  historical  events,  matters  lying  within 
the  sphere  of  things  visible  and  known,  actions 
accomplished  upon  the  earth,  cognizable  by  the 
senses,  and  admitting  of  being  measured  and  tested 
by  the  ordinary  methods  of  all  historical  investiga- 
tion. Such  are  the  facts  relative  to  the  birth,  life, 
ministry,  death,  and  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  Of 
all  this  portion  of  Christian  faith,  it  may  be  asserted 
that  it  is  by  its  very  nature  beyond  the  possibility 


WHAT  IS  CHBISTIANITY?  19 

of  change.  The  only  point  of  discussion  is  the 
truth  of  the  facts.  If  the  events  have  been  trans- 
acted, or  are  in  process  of  transaction,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  they  can  be  undone.  Any  form  of  words 
expressive  of  the  possibility  destroys  itself,  and 
becomes  a  sound  without  a  sense. 

These  facts  constitute,  however,  but  one  portion 
of  the  Christian  faith.  The  other  portion  consists 
of  doctrinal  truths,  stated  in  the  form  of  general 
principles,  requiring  belief  in  the  first  place,  moral 
acceptance  in  the  second,  practical  adoption  in  the 
third.  Such,  for  instance,  are  the  doctrines  relative 
to  justification,  good  works,  Christ  without  sin,  pre- 
destination, and  similar  articles  of  faith.  It  is 
observable,  in  regard  to  the  whole  of  them,  that 
more  or  less  immediately  they  are  dependent  upon 
the  historical  facts ;  and  this  so  closely,  that  if  the 
facts  were  disproved,  the  doctrines  would  be  de- 
stroyed at  the  same  time.  The  case  is  not,  that 
the  facts  form  one  independent  portion  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  the  doctrines  another;  but  that  the 
two  portions  constitute  one  common  and  indivisible 
whole.  The  faith  is  a  fabric  so  made  up  of  both, 
that  the  act  of  taking  away,  not  alone  the  facts  in 
general,  but  any  one  part  of  the  facts,  loosens  the 
coherence  and  destroys  the  nature  of  the  fabric 
itself.  If  without  irreverence  such  great  matters 
may  be  illustrated  by  very  familiar  things,  the  faith 
may  be  compared  in  this  respect  to  some  produc- 
tion of  the  modern  loom,  manufactured  of  two  ma- 
terials, and  deriving  its  name  and  qualities  from 
the  union  of  the  two.     Take  either  of  them  away, 


20  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  the  fabric  ceases  to  be  itself,  and  becomes 
something  else. 

This  body  of  truth  does  not,  however,  make  up 
the  whole  of  Christianity.  We  need  to  add  to  it  a 
living  and  superhuman  power,  working  in  and 
through  the  faith,  and  constituting  the  really  effi- 
cient agent  of  its  wonderful  triumphs.  This  is  the 
grace  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  this  is  his  special 
function  in  the  plan  of  human  redemption.  It  is 
not  possible  to  sever  these  operations  of  the  Spirit 
from  the  truths  whereby  he  operates.  The  experi- 
enced result  must  be  referred  back  to  the  corre- 
sponding doctrine  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  exactly 
the  result  that  might  be  expected  to  follow,  if  the 
doctrine  be  true,  and  it  presents  in  its  own  nature 
exactly  the  characteristics  the  doctrine  leads  us  to 
expect.  If  there  be  a  Holy  Ghost,  and  if  his  office 
in  the  scheme  of  salvation  be  to  infuse  a  new  life, 
and  renew  the  soul  after  the  image  of  Christ  Jesus, 
then  the  facts  of  Christian  experience  could  not  be 
otherwise  than  they  are ;  and  being  what  they  are, 
they  confirm  and  verify  the  doctrine. 

Hence,  in  asking  what  Christianity  is,  the  truths 
of  the  Christian  faith  can  alone  supply  the  answer. 
There  is  an  unseen  and  supernatural  element  about 
it.  But  this  element,  in  its  very  nature,  does  not 
admit  of  intellectual  inquiry  and  examination.  As 
it  presents  itself  for  investigation,  Christianity  can 
only  be  resolved  into  the  truths  constituting  the 
substance  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Hence  has  arisen  the  use  of  church  standards. 
The  form  of  creed  was  at  first  exceedingly  short 


WHAT  IS  CHKISTIA^ITY?  21 

and  simple.  As  the  church  acquired  a  more  per- 
fect organization,  and  felt  the  necessity  of  guarding 
herself  against  false  teaching  within,  as  well  as 
violence  without,  the  formula  of  faith  became  more 
definite  and  exact.  The  three  ancient  creeds — the 
Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian — exactly 
illustrate  the  process.  The  Apostles'  Creed  is  the 
most  ancient  and  the  most  simple.  Although  not 
composed  by  the  apostles,  its  composition  must  be 
referred  back  to  a  period  closely  touching  the  apos- 
tolic days,  and  it  undeniably  embodies  the  doctrines 
of  primitive  Christianity.  But  they  are  stated  in  a 
very  condensed  form,  and  follow  so  strictly  the  bap- 
tismal formula  given  by  our  Lord  himself,  as  to  be 
only  an  amplification  of  it:  "Go  ye,  teach  all  ricV 
tions,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  The 
Nicene  Creed  was  adopted  by  the  Council  of  Nicea 
after  the  establishment  of  Christianity  by  Constan- 
tine,  and  when  the  Arian  heresy  already  threatened 
to  rend  the  unity  of  the  faith.  It  is  accordingly 
longer  and  fuller,  and  more  controversial,  and  fills 
up  in  definite  detail  the  apostolic  outlines.  The 
creed  attributed  to  Athanasius  was  later  in  date  by 
more  than  two  centuries,  and  evidences  in  every 
part  of  it  the  adoption  of  an  exact  theological  lan- 
guage. It  deals  primarily  with  two  great  doctrines 
only — the  trinity  of  persons  in  the  Godhead,  and 
the  unity  of  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  the 
one  person  of  Christ,  because  these  were  the  prom- 
inent subjects  of  debate  in  the  sixth  century. 

The  creeds  of  different  branches  of  the  church 


22  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  Christ  have  carried  this  expansion  still  farther. 
They  have  in  all  cases  been  colored  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  times  and  the  variations  of  contro- 
versy. But  although  they  vary  in  form  and  in  the 
relative  prominence  given  to  truths,  they  are  iden- 
tical in  substance,  both  with  themselves  and  with 
the  more  ancient  creeds.  The  body  of  truth  is  one 
and  identical.  I  use  the  word  body  to  express,  not 
simply  a  collection  of  separate  doctrines,  but  a  con- 
nected and  organized  system  of  belief.  That  the 
parts  of  this  teaching  are  not  isolated  and  frag- 
mentary truths,  but  harmonious  portions  of  one 
intelligent  scheme,  may  be  illustrated  by  such  a 
work  as  Calvin's  "  Institutes,"  by  the  Westminster 
Confession,  or  by  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England.  The  members  of  a  body  are 
not  more  closely  united  to  each  other  than  are  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christiau  faith.  The  existence  of 
such  a  body  of  truth  is  repeatedly  asserted  in  Scrip- 
ture under  the  expression  "the  faith,"  where  the 
context  defines  the  application  of  the  phrase  beyond 
the  possibility  of  doubt;  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
words  of  St.  Jude,  "The  faith  which  was  once  deliv- 
ered unto  the  saints." 

Many  lines  of  evidence  thus  concur  in  limiting- 
even  the  name  of  Christianity  to  one  recognized 
system  of  truth.  Its  distinct  origin,  its  definite  his- 
tory, its  supernatural  characteristics,  its  organized 
body  of  doctrine,  its  embodiment  in  visible  churches, 
its  distinctive  principles,  its  world-wide  effects,  its 
series  of  creeds  and  formularies,  its  sacraments  and 
institutions,  its  unbroken  descent  and  perpetuity  of 


WHAT  IS  CHEISTIANITY?  23 

life  and  power,  belong  to  itself  alone.  Christianity 
in  its  outward  form,  and  as  presented  for  inquiry, 
is  identified  with  a  body  of  systematic  truth,  cen- 
tring round  the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  and  has 
the  church  of  the  past  and  the  present  as  its  visible 
witness  and  embodiment. 


24  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

CHRISTIANITY    IS    IDENTIFIED    WITH    THE 
CHRISTIAN   SCRIPTURES. 

The  Case  regarded  as  a  Matter  of  Fact — No  other  Source  of  Infor- 
mation within  the  Pale  of  the  Christian  Church — Origin  of  the 
Scriptures  and  their  Recognized  Authority — No  Source  of  In- 
formation on  Christian  Doctrine  Outside  the  Church— Profane 
History :  "what  it  supplies  and  does  not  supply — Human  Phi- 
losophy :  its  Struggles  and  its  Failure. 

We  have  seen  that  Christianity,  in  its  outward 
aspects,  consists  of  a  series  of  definite  and  positive 
statements,  constituting  together  a  complete  and 
harmonious  body  of  doctrine.  In  this  sense  the 
word  will  be  invariably  used  in  the  course  of  the 
present  inquiry.  I  affirm  nothing  more  about  it  at 
present.  I  neither  pronounce  upon  its  truth  nor 
upon  its  obligation ;  I  only  define  what  it  is.  It 
may  be  right  to  reject  it  altogether,  or  it  may  be 
necessary  to  make  a  selection  of  its  doctrines,  and, 
separating  what  we  conceive  to  be  true  from  what 
we  conceive  to  be  false,  blend  them  into  another 
system.  I  only  affirm  that  such  a  system  would  not 
be  Christianity — that  Christianity  which  points  to 
its  history  in  the  past,  exercises  its  influence  in  the 
present,  and  claims  the  promises  of  the  future. 

This  being  Christianity,  the  question  is,  Upon 
what  authority  are  these  doctrines  taught,  whence 
are  they  gathered,  and  what  are  their  claims  upon 
the  acceptance  and  obedience  of  mankind  ?     The 


GOD'S  WORD  AND  CHRISTIANITY.      25 

success  of  Christianity,  if  it  stood  alone,  would  not 
of  itself  suffice  to  prove  its  Divine  authority,  how- 
ever strong  a  presumption  to  that  effect  it  might 
justify.  It  would  remain  open  to  dispute  whether 
these  alleged  effects  are  attributable  to  Christianity 
or  to  some  other  cause;  or,  granting  that  they  are 
its  product,  they  might  still  be  referred  by  an  ob- 
jector to  the  effect  of  one  or  two  great  truths 
embodied  in  Christianity,  rather  than  to  the  whole 
body  of  its  teaching.  To  ascertain  whence  these 
doctrines  are  derived  is,  therefore,  the  next  essen- 
tial step  in  the  inquiry.  The  Bible,  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  investigator,  supplies  the  answer. 
Christianity  is  identified  with  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures. 

This  is  the  answer  of  no  one  section  of  Christen- 
dom, but  of  Christendom  at  large.  Wherever  Chris- 
tianity is  found  to  flourish  in  its  greatest  activity 
and  closest  alliance  with  human  liberty  and  civili- 
zation, the  Bible  is  enthroned  as  the  absolute  rule 
of  faith.  That  is  the  weapon  of  its  warfare,  this  the 
instrument  of  its  progress.  The  history  of  its  mis- 
sions is  the  history  of  the  Book.  To  the  heathen, 
on  whose  darkness  is  poured  the  light  of  the  Chris- 
tian day,  its  missionaries  are  the  men  of  the  Book. 
The  Protestant  divine,  in  constructing  his  scheme 
of  theological  belief,  acknowledges  no  other  author- 
ity ;  the  private  Christian  derives  from  it  his  daily 
strength  and  comfort,  and  listens  to  its  teaching  as 
to  the  voice  of  God.  It  has  become  the  centre  of  a 
prodigious  and  ever-enlarging  literature.  Even  sci- 
ence, in  all  its  branches,  is  deeply  indebted  to  it : 


26  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  history,  so  far  as  it  lias  any  fixed  and  certain 
chronology,  derives  it  from  this  source.  Such  a 
thing  as  a  Christianity  without  the  Bible  is  un- 
known. Its  facts  and  its  doctrines,  its  triumphs  in 
the  past,  and  its  hopes  for  the  future,  its  power,  its 
character,  its  existence,  its  very  self,  are  all  derived 
from  this  fountain — this  issuing  forth  of  the  divine 
mind  in  the  written  revelation. 

The  Bible  is  the  source,  and  the  only  source,  of 
information  on  Christian  truth.  Take  away  every 
thing  derived  from  its  authority,  and  Christianity 
would  be  gone.  We  should  know  nothing  about  it. 
Had  not  the  Bible  existed,  there  would  have  been 
no  creeds  to  be  believed,  no  promises  to  be  remem- 
bered. It  is  exceedingly  difficult  even  to  conceive 
its  absence,  so  inextricably  has  its  influence  become 
mixed  up  with  the  whole  order  and  fortunes  of  the 
world.  Our  state  without  it  would  be  simple  hea- 
thenism, if  not  something  worse ;  for  it  is  very  doubt- 
ful whether  paganism,  as  it  actually  existed,  could 
have  ever  grown  into  its  life,  such  as  it  was,  without 
the  influence  of  the  Hebrew  revelation.  The  world 
without  the  Bible  would  be  like  a  globe  without 
light — a  firmament  without  a  sun. 

I.  There  is  no  other  source  of  information  within 
the  circle  of  Christianity  itself.  The  church  has  no 
independent  source  of  teaching.  Neither  a  solitary 
fact  nor  a  solitary  truth  has  ever  been  added  to  the 
sum  of  Christian  doctrine  from  any  other  quarter. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  church  was  before  the 
Bible,  and  must,  therefore,  be  independent  of  it ; 
and  in  one  very  limited  sense  the  assertion  may  be 


GOD'S  WOED  AND   CHRISTIANITY.       27 

admitted.  Undoubtedly  the  facts  of  our  Lord's 
life,  and  the  offer  of  salvation  through  his  atoning 
death  were  preached  before  they  were  written  in  the 
New  Testament  Scriptures.  Undoubtedly  it  is  pos- 
sible to  conceive  of  Christianity  apart  from  its  in- 
spired records  ;  but  it  is  useless  to  argue  about  what 
might  might  have  been.  It  is  in  vain  to  tax  the 
brain  with  ingenious  suppositions  relative  to  the  life 
of  Christianit}7,  if  the  Scriptures  never  had  been 
written,  and  the  preservation  of  its  doctrines  had 
been  intrusted  to  oral  teaching  alone.  Such  theo- 
ries are  valuable  to  the  opponent  of  Christianity, 
because  they  enable  him  to  lose  sight  of  the  case  as 
it  is,  in  a  cloud  of  ingenious  theories ;  but  they 
should  be  rigidly  watched,  and  most  carefully 
avoided  by  the  advocate  of  Christianity.  What 
God  might  have  done  is  a  question  for  himself 
"What  he  has  done  is  the  only  question  for  us. 
Looking  from  the  stand-point  of  our  own  times  and 
our  own  circumstances,  our  sole  and  only  knowl- 
edge of  Christian  facts  and  Christian  doctrines  is 
dependent  on  the  Christian  Scriptures. 

The  facts  are  few  and  simple.  For  a  short  period 
after  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  gospel  was  extended 
by  oral  preaching.  But  even  during  this  period  it 
was  a  preaching  constantly  referred  back,  as  we  see 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  in  the  Epistles,  to 
the  prior  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  The  design 
of  God  in  perpetuating  the  revelation  of  his  will 
through  the  permanent  form  of  written  documents 
instead  of  by  word  of  mouth,  had  undoubted  refer- 
ence to  considerations  as  powerful,  in  the  times 


28  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

after  Christ,  as  in  the  times  before.  We  find,  ac- 
cordingly, the  same  method  to  have  been  adopted 
by  the  apostles  under  the  New  Testament  dispensa- 
tion as  by  the  prophets  under  the  Old.  The  gospel 
of  St.  Matthew,  the  earliest  of  the  New  Testament 
books,  has  been  ascribed  to  dates  varying  from  one 
year  to  fifteen  years  after  the  ascension.  The  Reve- 
lation of  St.  John,  the  latest  of  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures,  is  by  some  referred  to  a  date  as  early  as 
a.  d.  60,  and  by  no  critics  to  a  later  date  than  a.  d.  96. 
Within  the  lifetime,  therefore,  of  the  last  survivor 
of  the  apostles,  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament 
was  finally  completed.  The  oral  teaching  of  living 
men  passed  away,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  teach- 
ing of  authoritative  Scriptures. 

How  completely  these  Scriptures  stand  alone  as 
the  sole  fountains  of  revealed  truth  will  be  seen 
from  a  brief  statement  of  the  facts.  The  caution 
must  be  continually  borne  in  mind,  that  we  can  only 
deal  with  the  case  as  it  is,  not  as  we  can  conceive 
that  it  might  have  been.  The  number  of  believers 
was  very  large  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  period, 
and  conceivably  many  writers,  besides  the  inspired 
authors  of  the  New  Testament,  might  have  written 
on  the  events  and  doctrines  of  Christianity.  But  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  no  such  sources  of  infor- 
mation. Christian  books  of  the  same  antiquity  as 
the  canonical  Scriptures  lie  within  a  very  narrow 
limit.  All  that  we  possess  are  an  epistle  of  doubt- 
ful genuineness,  ascribed  to  Barnabas,  the  compan- 
ion of  St.  Paul ;  part  of  a  letter  supposed  to  have 
been  written   by  Clement,  bishop  of  Rome ;   the 


GOD'S  WORD  AND  CHRISTIANITY.      29 

"  Shepherd  of  Hernias,"  a  work,  like  the  letter  of 
Barnabas,  of  disputed  authority ;  the  Seven  Epistles 
attributed  to  Ignatius,  a.  d.  70  ;  and  a  letter  of  Pol- 
ycarp,  bishop  of  Smyrna,  A.  D.  108.  These  are  the 
sole  extant  remains  of  the  Christian  literature  of 
the  apostolic  period.  A  broad  gulf  of  time,  as  well 
as  of  character  and  position,  separates  all  the  other 
Christian  fathers  from  the  inspired  writers  of  the 
New  Testament. 

These  apostolic  fathers,  as  the  name  signifies, 
lived  during  the  first  century,  when  the  memory  of 
Christ  himself  must  have  been  fresh,  and  his  divine 
voice,  as  it  were,  still  thrilled  upon  the  ears  of  men ; 
when,  consequently,  a  large  amount  of  oral  informa- 
tion, relative  to  him,  must  still  have  survived.  They 
were  acquainted  with  the  apostles,  and  are  said  to 
have  conversed  with  them.  Yet,  standing  in  this 
immediate  contact  with  the  sacred  writers,  they 
never  professed  to  be  themselves  independent  teach- 
ers ;  but  both  by  direct  statement,  and  still  more  by 
free  reference  and  quotation,  refer  back  to  the  au- 
thority of  the  Scriptures  as  their  rule  of  faith.  With 
exceptions  equally  slight  and  uncertain,  not  the  word 
spoken,  but  the  word  written,  was  their  professed 
guide  and  authority.  Their  writings,  consequently, 
are  only  reflected  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
derive  their  teaching  from  the  Scriptures  they 
reflect. 

The  later  Christian  writers  followed  in  their 
footsteps.  As  they  lived  and  died  they  were  but 
links  in  one  successive  chain — the  first  link  of  which 
rested  on  the  written  Word.     If  those  who  lived 


20  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

nearest  the  times  when  the  New  Testament  canon 
was  closed  claimed  to  have,  and  had,  no  authority 
beyond  what  they  derived  from  Scripture,  still  less 
had  those  farther  off  from  them.  It  was  but  a 
remoter  succession  from  one  and  the  same  begin- 
ning. Could  it  be  conceived,  therefore,  that  the 
original  Scriptures  had  been  allowed  to  perish,  and 
that  their  contents  had  been  perpetuated  only  in  the 
writings  of  the  uninspired  successors  of  the  apos- 
tles ;  even  then  these  writings  would  have  had  no 
authority  of  their  own,  but  would  have  possessed  just 
that  claim  for  credence  which  they  derived  from  the 
original  Scriptures  and  no  more.  If  the  Scriptures 
had  not  existed,  neither  would  their  writings  have 
existed.  The  absence  of  the  one  would  have  inclu- 
ded equally  the  absence  of  the  other ;  and  in  the 
void  thus  produced  we  should  possess  no  source  of 
information  whatever  upon  the  subjects  included 
within  the  range  of  Christian  faith. 

The  claims  of  church  authority,  and  of  a  tradi- 
tion of  divine  truth,  advanced  by  the  church  of 
Rome,  constitute  no  exception  to  this  principle. 
These  claims  are  not  only  without  evidence,  but  they 
are  contradicted  by  the  facts  of  history  and  exj)eri- 
ence.  As  a  mere  question  of  fact,  no  consentane- 
ous and  universal  tradition  of  truth  does  exist,  or 
has  ever  existed.  But,  putting  this  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, the  claim  does  not  invalidate  the  fact  that  the 
Christian  Scriptures  furnish  our  exclusive  source  of 
information  on  the  subject  of  Christianity;  for  the 
church  of  Home  rests  it  on  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture, however   falsely  our   Lord's   words   may  be 


GODS  WORD  AND  CHRISTIANITY.      31 

alleged  for  tins  purpose.  If  the  Christian  writers 
could  not  have  existed  without  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures, neither  could  Romish  perversions  have  ex- 
isted, since  in  the  absence  of  the  written  Word  there 
would  have  been  nothing  to  pervert.  I  take  the 
facts  simply  as  they  stand.  As  the  case  is,  the  ab- 
sence of  the  written  "Word  would  have  involved 
equally  the  absence  of  the  false  gloss,  as  well  as  of 
the  truthful  interpretation.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
other  source  of  information  on  divine  things  within 
the  circle  of  Christianity  itself  than  the  Christian 
Scriptures. 

II.  There  is  no  other  source  of  information  out- 
side the  circle  of  Christianity.  Let  it  be  supposed 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  lived,  suffered,  taught, 
and^died;  and  that  the  apostles  carried  on  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  after  his  death ;  that  all 
the  facts  of  the  New  Testament  history  up  to  the 
day  of  Pentecost  took  place  as  they  are  recorded, 
but  that  no  written  Scriptures,  and  consequently, 
no  patristic  writings,  founded  on  those  Scriptures, 
survived.  Let  us  suppose  that  this  being  the  case, 
some  of  ourselves,  nineteen  hundred  years  after- 
wards, wished  to  inquire  into  the  facts  of  Christ's 
life,  just  as  we  may  inquire  into  the  life  of  Julius 
Caesar,  or  any  other  hero  of  antiquity,  what  authen- 
tic sources  of  information  would  be  open  for  such 
an  inquiry?  The  answer  is,  "Literally  none."  Were 
we  confined  to  a  knowledge  of  such  facts  relative 
to  the  person  and  work  of  our  Lord,  as  profane 
history  is  able  to  supply,  his  nationality  and  his 
death  would  be  nearly  the  whole  of  our  information. 


32  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

We  cannot  even  say  that  the  history  of  the  church 
of  Christ  would,  nevertheless,  have  continued  to 
witness  to  his  person  and  his  doctrine,  because  this 
involves  the  assumption  that  the  church  would  have 
flourished  and  triumphed  all  the  same,  if  no  author- 
itative records  of  his  life  and  doctrine  had  been 
given.  So  far  as  can  be  judged,  experience  would 
directly  disprove  such  an  assumption.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Christianity  and  the  Christian  Scriptures 
lived  and  triumphed  together,  and  so  far  as  we 
know,  were  never  separated.  Secular  history  might 
possibly  have  recorded  the  result  of  the  apostolic 
labors,  as  it  has  recorded  other  temporary  outbursts 
of  human  enterprise  and  enthusiasm;  just  as  Taci- 
tus has  left  on  record  the  historical  peculiarity  of 
the  Jews  as  they  appeared  to  a  heathen  historian, 
and  just  as  the  letter  of  Pliny  to  TrcSjan  has  left  on 
record  the  picture  of  Christianity  and  Christians  as 
they  appeared  to  a  heathen  philosopher ;  but  this 
would  have  been  all.  A  few  distorted  lineaments 
would,  have  represented  all  the  world  could  have 
known  of  the  glorious  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  of 
the  sublime  doctrines  that  he  preached. 

One  other  supposition  only  remains  to  be  con- 
sidered. Let  it  be  supposed  that  neither  Christ 
nor  Christianity  had  existed,  is  there  any  other 
source  whence  mankind  could  have  derived  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  lofty  and  animating  doctrines  relative 
to  God  and  man  contained  in  the  Christian  Bible, 
and  constituting  the  substance  of  the  Christian  rev- 
elation? Should  we  know  any  thing  of  a  personal 
God,  his  attributes  of  wisdom,  love,  and  justice,  or 


/ 


GOD'S  WORD  AND   CHRISTIANITY.       33 

his  moral  government  over  the  world ;  any  thing  of 
the  past  history  of  human  nature,  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  any 
thing  of  a  man's  justification  before  God ;  of  the 
eternal  distinctions  of  right  and  wrong ;  or  of  the 
relative  and  social  duties  between  man  and  man  ? 
To  take  away  these  truths  would  be  the  same  calam- 
ity to  our  moral  life  as  it  would  be  to  our  physical 
being  were  the  sun  extinguished  in  the  midst  of  the 
heavens.  Yet  the  history  of  pagan  philosophy 
proves  that  we  are  entirely  indebted  for  them  to 
Christianity  and  the  Christian  Scriptures.  This 
philosophy  was  already  in  its  decline  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era,  and  profane  history  con- 
tains nothing  more  pathetic  than  its  plaintive  con- 
fession of  its  own  absolute  vanity. 

The  highest  attainments  of  heathenism  never 
exceeded-  a  system  of  guesses.  It  was  fertile  in 
doubts;  barren  of  fixed  conclusions.  Common 
principles,  it  had  none ;  ascertained  truth  univer- 
sally accepted,  it  had  none;  acknowledged  creed, 
it  had  none.  It  was  a  thing  many-shaped  and 
many-colored,  fickle  and  inconstant  as  the  clouds 
across  the  summer  sky.  What  one  thinker  suggest- 
ed another  thinker  denied.  It  sometimes  guessed 
what  might  be  ;  it  could  never  say  what  was.  In 
its  best  and  highest  form,  attained  under  Socrates 
and  Plato,  it  caught  some  dim  outlines  of  great 
truths;  but  could  never  give  them  definite  form, 
frame  them  into  intelligible  truths,  nor  invest  them 
with  power  over  the  intellect,  or  authority  over  the 
conscience. 

2* 


34  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

These  guesses  amounted,  moreover,  to  very  little 
solution  of  the  great  and  pressing  problems  of  hu- 
man life  and  death.  Was  there  a  God  at  all  ?  If 
so,  was  he  a  personal  Being,  or  a  universal  all-per- 
vading substance  ?  Did  he  take  notice  of  human 
affairs  as  the  moral  governor  of  the  world ;  or  did 
he  repose  idly  in  the  abstract  contemplation  of 
his  own  glory?  Was  it  an  intellectual  will  or  a 
blind  fate  whereby  human  affairs  were  ordered? 
Is  there  any  other  law  for  man  than  the  instincts 
of  his  own  nature  ?  Has  he  a  soul  ?  and  what  will 
become  of  it  at  death  ?  Is  there  another  life  ?  and 
what  will  be  its  character?  Is  there  such  a  thing 
as  truth  ?  and  if  so,  is  every  thing  truth,  or  nothing 
truth  ?  These  are  questions  pressing  so  closely  on 
the  conscience,  and  brought  so  intimately  into  con- 
tact with  the  heart  that  some  definite  answer  to 
them  is  necessary  for  happiness.  Without  some 
clear  knowledge  of  them  there  can  be  neither  secu- 
rity for  life  nor  peace  for  death.  Yet  these  vital 
questions  heathenism  left  unsolved,  and  was  as  in- 
competent to  solve  them  as  the  human  hand  is  to 
bind  the  winds  and  change  the  ordinances  of  the 
sky. 

We  do  not  adequately  appreciate  what  we  owe 
to  the  Christian  Scriptures,  or  what  we  should  lose 
by  their  absence.  Take  them  away,  or  destroy  their 
authority,  and  we  are  absolutely  ignorant  on  all 
these  subjects.  We  should  neither  know  what  we 
ourselves  are,  nor  what  God  is ;  neither  understand 
the  meaning  of  life,  nor  the  significance  of  death. 
The    moral    and    spiritual    darkness    of    mankind 


GOD'S  WORD  AND  CHRISTIANITY.       35 

would  be  as  thick  and  absolute  nineteen  centuries 
after  Christ  as  it  was  seven  hundred  years  before 
Christ,  when  "darkness  covered  the  earth,  and 
gross  darkness  the  people."     Isaiah  60 : 2. 

Hence  the  inquiry  on  which  we  suppose  our- 
selves to  have  entered  has  issued  in  one  definite 
conclusion,  one  firm  and  solid  link  in  the  chain  of 
truth — the  Christianity  of  the  historical  past  is 
identified  with  the  Christian  Scriptures.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  has  been  identified  with  them 
throughout.  As  a  matter  of  theory  we  are  un- 
able to  conceive  what  would  have  been  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  world  had  the  two  been 
separated.  For  our  present  purposes  the  separa- 
tion may  therefore  be  considered  as  inconceiv- 
able. Dealing  with  the  case  as  it  is,  all  our 
knowledge  of  the  faith  is  derived  from  this  source, 
and  from  this  source  only.  Christianity  and  the 
Christian  Scriptures  have  ever  stood  together  in 
the  past,  and  for  all  that  we  can  see,  they  must  to- 
gether stand  or  together  fall  in  the  future. 


36  GODS  WOKD  WRITTEN. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE   AUTHORITY   OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SCRIP- 
TURES. 

The  Authority  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  Revelation  from  God— Its 
Threefold  Grounds  :  I.  The  Inspired  Character  of  their  Au- 
thors, and  the  Scriptural  Teaching  on  the  Nature  and  Limits 
of  their  Commission — No  other  "Writings  of  Inspired  Men  ex- 
tant— II.  The  Structural  Unity  of  the  Whole  Collection  of 
Sacred  Books  and  its  Producing  Cause — III.  The  Sublimity  and 
Superhuman  Character  of  its  Contents. 

In  prosecuting  an  inquiry  into  tlic  character  of 
God's  word  written,  every  conclusion  gained  must 
be  accepted  as  a  settled  principle,  and  as  the  basis 
of  fresh  conclusions.  To  go  back  and  undo  what 
has  been  done  would  make  all  definite  result  im- 
possible. All  our  processes  of  thinking  depend 
upon  a  number  of  conclusions,  each  one  of  which 
depends  upon  the  one  preceding  it,  like  consecutive 
links  of  a  chain.  We  must  not  disturb  the  founda- 
tions on  account  of  any  difficulty  in  the  superstruc- 
ture. Each  link  in  the  series  cannot  be  too  care- 
fully tested,  or  too  clearly  understood.  But  once 
accepted,  it  must  not  be  called  into  further  question, 
but  must  be  adopted  as  affording  a  firm  hold  for 
further  progress. 

The  considerations  presented  in  the  preceding 
chapter  prove  the  authority  of  Christianity  to  be 
identical  with  the  authority  of  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures, inasmuch  as  these  records  constitute  our  only 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.         37 

source  of  information.  Had  they  not  existed,  or 
existing,  were  their  credibility  now  destroyed,  we 
should  find  ourselves  in  almost  absolute  ignorance 
on  all  points  relative  to  Christ  and  to  his  teaching. 

This  conclusion  rests  on  a  consideration  of  the 
facts  of  the  case  as  they  are,  and  not  as  they  might 
conceivably  have  been.  This  caution  cannot  be 
too  frequently  reiterated,  or  too  rigidly  maintained. 
The  facts  of  Christianity  are  clearly  distinct  from 
its  records.  The  events  themselves  are  different 
from  our  knowledge  of  the  events.  The  work  of 
Christ  might  have  been  completed  in  his  life,  death, 
and  resurrection;  his  gospel  might  have  been 
preached  by  the  apostles,  and  been  accepted  by  the 
world  although  no  authoritative  records  had  been 
given.  An  ingenious  fancy  might  occupy  itself  with 
an  imaginary  history  of  Christianity  under  such 
circumstances.  But  a  mental  exercise  of  this  kind 
can  have  no  weight  in  a  practical  inquiry  after 
truth,  because  this  inquiry  must  deal  with  things 
as  they  are;  and  under  the  actual  facts  of  the  case 
the  progress  of  Christianity  has  never  been  distinct 
from  its  authoritative  records,  but  has  been  bound 
up  with  them  in  such  a  way  that  if  the  records  had 
been  absent  all  our  knowledge  of  Christianity  would 
have  been  absent  likewise. 

It  is,  for  instance,  conceivable  in  the  nature  of 
things  that  the  knowledge  of  Christ  and  of  his  doc- 
trine, as  it  existed  during  the  lifetime  of  the  com- 
panions and  witnesses  of  his  ministry,  might  have 
been  perpetuated  in  a  series  of  uninspired  compo- 
sitions linked  in  point  of  time  to  the  New  Testa- 


38  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

merit  writings,  but  independent  of  them  for  their 
authority.  These  conceivable  writings  might  have 
derived  their  information  on  points  of  fact  and  doc- 
trine from  the  oral  tradition  of  the  living  church, 
and  not  from  the  inspired  writings  of  the  apostles. 
This  is  conceivable ;  but  in  point  of  fact  it  is  not 
the  case.  No  such  writings  exist.  The  earliest 
compositions  of  the  primitive  church  are  not  inde- 
pendent witnesses,  but  witnesses  dependent  on  the 
inspired  writings,  and  consistently  referring  back 
to  them.  It  is  useless  therefore  to  argue  upon  a 
theory  devoid  of  correspondence  with  the  actual 
facts  of  the  case. 

Or  again,  it  is  conceivable  that  the  great  Head 
of  the  church  might  have  provided  a  succession  of 
inspired  men  to  perpetuate  the  oral  teaching  of  the 
church,  and  have  authenticated  their  inspiration  by 
extraordinary  signs  and  miracles.  But  this  is  not 
the  case.  Inspired  men,  attested  by  their  posses- 
sion of  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  have  ceased 
to  exist ;  and  it  is  not  only  useless,  but  mischievous, 
to  distract  attention  from  the  facts  as  they  are,  in 
order  to  fix  it  on  the  facts  as  they  might  have  been, 
but  are  not. 

Or  again,  it  is  conceivable  that  God  might  have 
laid  up  the  gift  of  infallibility  in  his  church,  and 
constituted  the  succession  of  her  ministry  into  an 
authoritative  instructor  in  all  truth,  qualified  to 
pronounce  what  is  and  what  is  not  true.  But  God 
has  not  done  this.  For  centuries  after  Christ,  no 
whisper  of  any  such  claim  was  heard.  "When  the 
claim  was  subsequently  made,  it  was  based  on  the 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  39 

promises  of  the  written  word,  and  consequently 
could  never  have  been  made  if  the  word  had  not 
existed.  As  a  further  matter  of  historical  fact,  the 
earthly  church  has  erred  repeatedly.  The  church 
of  Rome,  the  only  branch  claiming  to  possess  an 
oral  tradition  of  truth,  has  contradicted  herself  over 
and  over  again;  and  no  authority  can  make  two 
contradictory  statements  to  be  equally  true.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  therefore,  God  has  not  adopted  such 
a  mode  of  preserving  truth ;  and  as  we  cannot  im- 
pose conditions  on  God,  it  cannot  be  right  to  argue 
upon  what  God  has  not  done,  instead  of  what  he 
has  done. 

In  the  same  way,  God  could  have  established, 
maintained,  and  propagated  Christianity  without 
the  use  of  inspired  writings  at  all.  Had  he  done 
so,  it  would  have  been  our  duty  to  accept  such  evi- 
dences of  truth  as  he  might  have  been  pleased  to 
provide.  But  God  has  acted  differently.  As  the 
fact  actually  stands,  we  have  nowhere  and  in  no 
form  any  tradition  of  Christian  truth  independent 
of  its  inspired  documents.  All  the  knowledge  of 
the  church  has  been  derived  from  this  source ;  and 
no  mere  extension  of  an  indefinite  series  of  teachers 
can  change  the  foundation  on  which  their  teaching- 
rests.  Let  the  links  in  the  chain  be  ten  or  ten  thou- 
sand, the  original  authority  is  the  same.  Divine 
Providence  has  so  ordered  matters,  that  we  possess 
no  independent  and  coordinate  sources  of  informa- 
tion. From  the  moment  of  the  completion  of  the 
canon,  the  Bible  has  ever  stood,  and  still  stands, 
alone.     No  authentic  documents  survive  which  do 


40  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

not  refer  their  own  authority  to  this  source.  Either 
;  we  must  accept  the  knowledge  of  Christianity  we 
gain  from  it,  or  we  must  be  content  to  be  without 
any  knowledge  of  Christianity  at  all.  In  the  words 
already  used,  Christianity  is  identified  with  the 
Christian  Scriptures. 

This  conclusion  may  be  used  in  two  ways.  Either 
a  man  may  argue  that  Christianity  is  true,  and  that 
therefore  the  Bible  must  be  true ;  and  such  an  argu- 
ment, although  very  insufficient,  would  carry  with 
it  a  great  presumption  in  its  favor.  Or  a  man  may 
argue  from  the  Bible  to  Christianity ;  and  if  he  be 
an  opponent,  he  may  say  that  the  Bible  is  not  true, 
and  therefore  Christianity  cannot  be  true.  Either 
mode  of  arguing,  however,  involves  inquiry  into  the 
character  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  In  what 
aspect  do  they  claim  to  be  regarded,  and  what  au- 
thority is  there  for  the  claim  ?  The  church  univer- 
sal more  or  less  explicitly  gives  the  answer  to  the 
first  question  when  she  declares  her  belief  that  the 
Scriptures  are  the  word  of  God.  What  is  the  full 
meaning  of  the  expression  "word  of  God,"  will 
come  to  be  considered  hereafter.  The  first  thing- 
is  to  examiue  the  general  right  of  Scripture  to  such 
an  appellation.  By  this  means  alone  shall  we  ascer- 
tain how  far  the  assertion  sometimes  made  is  true, 
that  the  authority  of  Scripture  is  independent  of 
the  question  of  its  inspiration. 

The  evidences  for  its  authority  are  more  or  less 
familiar  to  every  Christian.  They  constitute  a 
necessary  stage  of  the  inquiry  to  which  this  work 
is  directed,  but  a  preliminary  stage  only.     For  the 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.         41 

full  statement  of  them  the  reader  is  referred  to 
books  on  the  evidences;  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
excellent  work  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine.  A  slight 
sketch  only  of  the  argument  can  be  given  in  this 
place ;  but  it  is  essential  that  its  outline  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  or  else  the  conditions  of  the  ques- 
tion cannot  be  properly  appreciated. 

I.  The  Scriptures  are  accepted  as  authoritative 
because  they  are  the  composition  of  inspired  men. 
These  words  are  apparently  very  simple;  yet,  in 
relation  to  our  present  inquiry,  almost  every  one  of 
them  requires  explanation.  A  difficulty  meets  us  on 
the  threshold  which  cannot  satisfactorily  be  passed 
over ;  for  how  do  we  know  that  the  books  of  Scrip- 
ture were  written  by  inspired  men,  except  from 
Scripture  itself?  But  at  the  present  stage  Scrip- 
ture cannot  be  brought  as  a  witness,  because  the 
character  of  Scripture,  and  the  amount  of  authority 
more  or  less  due  to  it,  is  the  very  question  under 
inquiry.  "We  must  first  show  that  it  is  the  produc- 
tion of  inspired  men,  before  it  can  be  accepted  as 
a  decisive  witness.  The  proof  must  be  found  some- 
where outside  Scripture.  Yet  if  we  have  no  source 
of  information  upon  the  facts  and  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity except  the  Christian  Scriptures,  and  the 
Christian  Scriptures  cannot  be  called  to  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  inspired  character  of  their  own  authors, 
where  is  the  proof  to  be  found?  The  difficulty  is 
apparently  perplexing,  but  admits  of  a  very  simple 
answer.  It  resolves  itself  into  a  mere  question  of 
historical  credibility.  For  the  sake  of  clearness,  I 
take  the  case  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  only. 


42  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

We  discard  for  the  time  all  notions  about  the 
divine  authority  of  these  writings,  all  questions  rel- 
ative to  their  religious  character  and  credibility. 
We  take  them  simply  as  a  collection  of  ancient 
books,  and  submit  them  to  precisely  the  same  pro- 
cess of  examination  to  which  all  other  literature  is 
submitted.  What  is  the  time  when  these  books 
were  written,  and  who  were  their  authors  ?  The 
existence  of  the  books  at  the  present  moment,  what- 
ever may  be  thought  of  their  character,  is  a  fact  of 
common  experience,  to  be  doubted  by  none  but  a 
madman.  It  is  equally  certain  that  their  existence 
in  their  present  collected  form  can  be  traced  back- 
wards as  a  matter  of  fact  to  within  a  period  of  two 
hundred  years  after  Christ,  and  separate  books 
more  than  a  hundred  years  earlier,  even  to  the  life- 
time of  the  companions  of  the  apostles.  In  alleg- 
ing this  antiquity  for  these  writings,  we  rest  upon 
the  testimony  of  enemies  as  well  as  of  friends — on 
Celsus,  Julian,  and  Porphyry,  as  well  as  on  Justin 
Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Origen,  and  Jerome.  The  same 
testimony  affirms  that  they  constituted  at  that 
period,  as  at  the  present,  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Christians.  This  fact  proves  them  to  have  been 
accepted  as  the  undoubted  productions  of  their 
reputed  authors  by  those  who  enjoyed  personal 
acquaintance  with  them,  and  lived  at  the  times  and 
places  when  and  where  the  facts  recorded  in  them 
took  place. 

These  are  the  undeniable  facts  of  the  case,  and 
we  proceed  to  decide  from  them  on  the  authenticity 
of  the  books,  just  as  we  decide  from  evidence  of 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.         43 

exactly  the  same  kind,  although  much  weaker  in 
degree,  on  the  authenticity  of  other  old  books.  Is 
it  possible  that  men  nearly  contemporaneous  with 
the  apostles  could  have  been  mistaken  on  the  gen- 
uineness and  authenticity  of  these  books?  For 
instance,  could  they  have  believed  the  fourteen 
epistles  ascribed  to  St.  Paul  to  have  been  really  his 
composition,  had  the  fact  been  otherwise?  Is  it 
possible  that  the  church  at  Corinth  can  have  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be  in  possession  of  a  letter 
from  St.  Paul,  attested  by  his  own  signature,  if  it 
was  not  the  case?  That  letter  professed  to  come 
from  one  who  was  personally  acquainted  with  them, 
and  to  refer  to  matters  lying  equally  within  the 
knowledge  of  the  writer  and  of  the  persons  ad- 
dressed. Is  it  possible  that  such  a  letter  should 
ever  have  been  accepted  as  the  genuine  composi- 
tion of  St.  Paul,  if  no  such  man  had  ever  been  at 
Corinth,  if  no  such  events  had  happened  within 
their  knowledge  ? 

What  is  true  of  the  Corinthians  is  equally  true 
of  the  Eomans,  Galatians,  Colossians,  Philippians, 
Thessalonians.  The  autograph  letters  addressed 
to  these  churches  are  asserted  to  have  been  extant, 
and  open  to  the  examination  of  all  men  in  the  time 
of  Tertullian.  I  do  not  say  a  word  at  present  about 
the  inspired  character  of  these  books,  or  the  nature 
of  their  contents.  I  only  note  that  the  letters  of 
St.  Paul,  such  as  we  have  them  now,  were  in  exist- 
ence immediately  after  the  times  of  St.  Paul,  and 
were  accepted  as  his  genuine  writings  by  his  con- 
temporaries and  their  immediate  successors  in  the 


44  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

churches  he  is  asserted  to  have  founded.  It  is  on 
testimony  of  this  kind  that  we  accept  the  genuine- 
ness and  authenticity  of  all  ancient  books.  In  re- 
gard to  the  apostolic  writings,  the  witnesses  arc  so 
much  more  numerous  than  they  are  in  regard  to 
any  secular  writings,  that  if  we  refuse  to  accept  the 
testimony  in  their  case,  we  are  much  more  com- 
pelled to  reject  it  in  all  other  cases.  If  the  cur- 
rency obtained  by  the  Pauline  epistles  so  shortly 
after  the  lifetime  of  St.  Paul  be  no  proof  of  their 
being  really  his  epistles,  then  we  have  no  proof  of 
the  authorship  of  any  portion  of  ancient  literature. 
Once  let  it  be  admitted  that  these  old  books  are 
the  genuine  and  authentic  letters  of  their  reputed 
author,  and  we  have  an  independent  fact  from 
which  step  by  step  the  historical  credibility  of  the 
entire  gospel  history  can  be  deduced. 

For  then  such  a  man  as  St.  Paul  really  lived, 
really  exercised  an  apostleship,  really  founded 
churches,  really  preached  Christ,  really  wrought 
miracles  in  attestation  of  his  authority.  Then  the 
facts  he  preached  relative  to  the  life,  actions,  suffer- 
ings, death,  and  resurrection  of  Christ  must  have 
been  true;  for  if  they  were  not  true,  the  apostle 
who  preached  them  could  never  have  been  believed. 
Then  was  Paul  himself  but  one  of  a  company  of 
apostolic  men,  inspired  like  himself,  and  like  him- 
self, proving  their  commission  as  inspired  teachers 
by  signs  and  wonders  and  miracles. 

In  short,  the  facts  of  Christianity  are  so  linked 
to  each  other,  that  if  we  can  prove  any  one  part  of 
the  series,  the  truth  of  all  the  rest  must  be  admit- 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  45 

ted  likewise.  The  comparative  anatomist,  when  he 
has  found  one  bone  of  an  animal,  can  argue  from 
that  one  conclusively  for  the  existence  of  all  the 
others  necessary  to  the  complete  animal,  even 
although  he  should  not  actually  discover  them. 
He  might  not  be  able  to  determine  certainly  all  the 
particulars  relating  to  them  in  the  absence  of  the. 
bones  themselves,  but  he  can  argue  certainly  for 
their  existence.  In  the  same  way,  one  independent 
fact  relative  to  the  Christian  Scriptures  must  in- 
volve the  truth  of  many  other  facts.  We  find  this 
one  fact  in  the  existence  of  the  books  themselves, 
and  their  current  acceptation  in  the  earliest  times 
of  the  Christian  church,  proved,  as  we  may  prove 
any  other  historical  fact,  by  the  testimony  of  con- 
current witnesses. 

But  what  is  true  of  the  writings  of  St.  Paul  is 
equally  true  of  the  other  New  Testament  writers — 
of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John,  Peter,  Jude,  and 
James.  In  each  case  the  existence  of  the  old  books, 
and  their  general  currency  as  genuine  productions, 
are  the  simple  facts  of  ordinary  history,  ascertained 
by  an  easy  train  of  reasoning,  wholly  independent 
of  their  religious  character  and  inspired  authority. 
Each  one  of  these  facts  may  be  made  singly  the 
proof  of  many  other  associated  facts.  The  result 
of  them  altogether  goes  far  to  construct  the  whole 
fabric  of  New  Testament  history  and  doctrine.  They 
constitute  an  independent  testimony  to  this  truth, 
at  all  events,  that  the  Scriptural  books  were  written 
by  miraculously  endowed  men. 

This  is  the  first  reason,  therefore,  for  which  the 


46  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

/  Christian  Scriptures  are  accepted  as  authoritative  ; 
)  that  they  are  the  productions  of  men  authorized  to 
S  teach,  and  themselves  specially  instructed  for  this 
f  purpose.  Their  appointment  was  not  made  by  man, 
but  by  God.  When  an  earthly  messenger  conveys 
a  communication  of  importance,  he  may  justly  be 
asked  for  the  credentials  of  his  commission,  and 
such  as  are  the  credentials,  such  will  be  the  author- 
ity under  which  he  acts.  No  credentials  from  a 
lower  authority  could  authenticate  a  message  pro- 
fessing to  come  immediately  from  a  monarch.  A 
monarch's  commission  can  only  be  authenticated 
by  a  monarch's  sanction.  It  is  equally  true,  on  the 
other  side,  that  if  a  messenger  brings  credentials 
from  a  monarch,  he  is  justified  in  claiming  a  mon- 
arch's authority  for  his  commission.  The  writers 
of  the  sacred  books  belonged  to  a  company  of  men 
claiming  a  special  commission  to  teach  mankind, 
and  referring  this  commission  to  the  immediate  will 
of  God  himself.  In  proof  of  the  Divine  authority 
given  to  them,  they  raised  the  dead,  healed  the  sick, 
made  the  blind  to  see  and  the  lame  to  walk,  and 
even  conferred  these  extraordinary  powers  upon 
others  by  the  laying  on  of  their  hands.  Such  works 
lie  beyond  the  sphere  of  any  unassisted  human  pow- 
ers. The  miraculous  can  only  be  wrought  by  God, 
because  the  incapacity  of  man  to  do  it  is  the  ele- 
ment winch  makes  it  miraculous.  The  miracles  of 
the  apostolic  men  were  their  credentials,  open  and 
visible  to  all  men.  The  credentials  were  of  God; 
therefore  the  commission  attested  by  them  was  of 
God  likewise. 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  47 

The  commission  to  teach  confers  authority  on 
the  teaching ;  but  this  authority  does  not  extend 
beyond  the  purpose  contemplated  in  the  gift  of  it. 
When  an  earthly  ambassador  presents  the  creden- 
tials of  his  commission,  he  represents  the  monarch 
by  whom  he  is  appointed  in  those  acts  specified  in 
his  commission,  but  in  no  others.  Because  a  man 
is  authorized  to  negotiate  a  treaty,  he  is  not  there- 
fore authorized  to  sell  a  province  or  to  confer  an 
estate.  The  dignity  of  his  ambassadorship  is  at- 
tached indeed  to  his  person,  but  its  authority  is  not 
attached  to  all  his  acts,  but  only  to  acts  done  in 
accordance  with  and  in  virtue  of  his  instruction. 
He  maybe  a  skilful  diplomatist,  and  furnished  with 
every  necessary  information  for  his  guidance;  but 
he  may  also  be,  at  the  same  time,  an  immoral  man 
in  his  private  life,  venal,  false,  profligate.  The  pri- 
vate sins  of  the  man  would  not  invalidate  the  acts 
of  the  ambassador.  It  would  be  absurd  to  call 
into  question  the  authority  of  his  commission  in  his 
public  acts  because  of  mistakes  committed  in  the 
sphere  of  private  life.  The  authority  of  a  commis- 
sion, therefore,  extends  so  far,  but  so  far  only,  as 
the  purposes  for  which  it  is  given. 

The  sacred  writers,  in  like  manner,  brought  with 
them  an  authority  to  teach  ;  and  to  their  teaching, 
therefore,  and  not  absolutely  to  themselves,  the 
authority  belongs.  The  God  who  gave  the  creden- 
tials must  have  given  the  commission,  and  his 
authority  attaches  to  the  discharge  of  its  duties. 
What  they  taught  was  not  theirs,  but  God's ; 
ried  with  it  not  alone  their  weight,  but  the 


duties, 
s ;  car-   / 
weight    j 


18  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  God,  who  authenticated,  commissioned,  inspired 
them  to  teach  it.  To  argue  that  the  sacred  writings 
cannot  be  infallibly  true,  because  their  writers  made 
mistakes  in  their  private  life,  is  to  confuse  what 
they  did  on  God's  authority  with  what  they  did  on 
their  own  authority.  It  is  the  same  mistake  as  it 
would  be  to  confound  the  private  life  of  the  man 
with  the  public  acts  of  the  ambassador.  There  is 
not  a  word  in  Scripture  to  assert  that  the  sacred 
writers  were  secured  from  all  mistakes  in  every 
thing  they  said  and  did.  We  are  directly  taught 
the  very  reverse,  since  Scripture  itself  makes  us 
acquainted  with  the  quarrel  between  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas, and  the  open  disagreement  on  a  point  of 
Christian  action,  not  of  Christian  teaching,  be- 
tween Paul  and  Peter.  Paul  rebuked  Peter  to  his 
face,  not  for  teaching  that  a  man  can  be  justified 
by  the  works  of  the  law,  but  for  giving  way  to  the 
exclusive  habits  of  the  Judaizing  teachers.  "He 
withdrew  and  separated  himself,  fearing  them  which 
were  of  the  circumcision."  Gal.  2  :  12.  The  inspi- 
ration of  the  sacred  writers  was  not  therefore  abso- 
lute and  universal,  but  strictly  relative  to  that  spe- 
cial work  of  communicating  divine  truth  for  which 
they  wrere  commissioned. 

This  limitation  is  frequently  expressed.  Thus, 
when  our  Lord  first  sent  forth  the  twelve  apostles, 
their  special  commission  was,  "  As  ye  go,  preach." 
Matt.  10  : 7.  The  promise  of  his  special  presence 
and  help  exactly  followed  the  commission.  On 
points  of  ordinary  practice  they  were  taught  to 
exercise   their  own  sanctified   prudence:   "Be  ye 


GEOUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  40 

therefore  wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves." 
Matt.  10 :  16.  But  in  emergencies,  their  words  were 
to  be  guided  by  a  special  inspiration  :  "  It  is  not 
ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  which 
speaketh  in  you."  Matt.  10  :  20.  When  he  gave-^ 
his  final  commission,  not  to  the  apostles  alone,  but 
to  his  church  at  large,  the  instruction  was  the  same, 
"Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach."  Matt.  28:19.  In 
our  Lord's  deeply  mysterious  prayer  to  his  Father, 
recorded  in  John  17,  the  same  purpose  is  repeatedly 
affirmed :  "I  have  given  unto  them  the  words  which 
thou  gavest  me  ;"  "  I  have  given  them  thy  word  ," 
"  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also 
which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word." 
When  Matthias  was  elected  in  the  place  of  the 
traitor  Judas,  it  was  to  be  as  "a  witness :"  "  Thou, 
Lord,  which  knowest  the  hearts  of  all  men,  show 
whether  of  these  two  thou  hast  chosen,  that  he  may 
take  part  of  this  ministry  and  apostleship."  Acts 
1 :  24, 25.  When  St.  Paul  was  subsequently  called  of 
God  to  be  an  apostle,  "straightway  he  preached 
Christ."  Acts  9:20.  He  declared  the  object  of  his 
own  calling  to  be,  that  he  "might  preach  him  among 
the  heathen."  Gal.  1:16.  In  asserting  the  inde- 
pendence of  his  apostolical  authority,  his  expressed 
jealousy  is  not  for  an}'  assumed  universal  infallibil- 
ity, but  solely  for  the  gospel  he  preached.  Of  it, 
and  of  it  onl}T,  he  asserts,  "  I  neither  received  it  of 
man,  neither  was  T  taught  it,  but  by  the  revelation 
of  Jesus  Christ."  Gal.  1:12.  In  writing  to  Timo- 
thy, he  reiterates  the  same  fact :  "  Whereunto  I  am 
appointed  a  preacher,  and  an  apostle,  and  a  teacher 


50  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  the  Gentiles."  2  Tim.  1:11.  In  three  other  pas- 
sages he  uses  almost  the  same  words.  In  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Hebrews,  the  commission  to  teach  is 
extended  to  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament;  and 
the  teaching  is  so  immediately  identified  with  the 
teaching  of  God,  that  the  act  of  the  one  is  declared 
to  be  the  act  of  the  other.  "  God,  who  at  sundry 
1  inns  and  in  divers  manners  spake  in  time  past  unto 
the  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days 
spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son."  Heb.  1:1,  2.  And, 
lastly,  St.  Peter  asserts  the  same  limitation  in  regard 
to  the  holy  men  of  old :  they  "  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."     2  Peter  1 :  21. 

The  commission  given  to  the  apostles,  and  the 
inspiration  supplied  to  qualify  them  for  their  work, 
have  thus  ever  been  limited  to  their  teaching,  and 
never  been  extended  absolutely  to  their  persons. 
In  their  private  lives  and  conduct,  they  were  left  to 
the  ordinary  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  promised 
to  all  believers  without  distinction.  Scripture  does 
not  contain  a  syllable  to  extend  the  extraordinary 
inspiration  from  the  teaching  to  the  persons  of  the 
teachers.  "While  they  lived,  it  was  embodied  in 
their  words.  Since  their  death,  it  survives  embod- 
ied in  their  writings.  Had  other  inspired  teachers 
succeeded  them,  then  the  oral  teaching  of  the  living- 
apostles  would  have  taken  precedence  of  the  written 
teaching  of  the  dead  apostles.  But  since  no  such 
line  has  ever  been  perpetuated,  and  both  the  mirac- 
ulous inspiration  and  the  miraculous  credentials 
have  ceased  together  in  the  church,  the  written 
teaching  of  the  dead  apostles  stands  alone.     The 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  51 

inspiration  of  the  men  is  perpetuated  in  the  wri- 
tings— the  unalterable  utterance  of  an  authoritative 
revelation  for  all  time. 

Thus  St.  Paul  expresses  himself.  That  inspira- 
tion primarily  existed  in  the  men  inspired  cannot 
be  doubted;  that,  secondarily,  it  is  embodied  in 
their  writings,  is  directly  taught.  It  is  the  Scrip- 
ture which  is  "  God-inspired."  The  words  were 
written  towards  the  close  of  the  apostle's  life.  With 
the  exception  of  the  two  epistles  of  Peter  and  the 
Book  of  the  Revelation — perhaps  with  the  further 
■exception  of  the  Epistle  of  the  Hebrews  and  the 
short  letter  of  Jude — the  canon  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  already  completed.  St.  Paul's  earlier 
epistles  had  already  been  collected,  and  were  so 
widely  read  that  St.  Peter,  writing  shortly  after  the 
date  of  the  second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  could  speak 
of  them  as  familiarly  known,  "as  also  in  all  his  epis- 
tles." He  then  proceeds  to  identify  these  epistles 
with  the  general  body  of  the  Scriptures,  "  which 
they  that  are  unlearned  and  unstable  wrest,  as  they 
do  also  the  other  Scriptures."  2  Peter  3:16.  This 
occurs  in  a  letter,  not  directed  to  one  particular 
church,  but  to  the  general  body  of  believers,  "  them 
that  have  obtained  like  precious  faith  with  us." 
2  Peter  1:1.  St.  Paul's  words  to  Timothy  cannot 
therefore  be  restricted  to  the  sacred  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament  alone,  but  must  have  included  the 
great  mass  of  the  New  Testament  writings  likewise. 
He  refers  the  authoritative  teaching  of  the  church, 
not  to  the  men,  but  to  their  writings.  The  Scripture 
is  "God-inspired,"  and  is  "profitable  for  doctrine" — 


52  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

not  only  profitable,  but  sufficient — "  able  to  make 
the  man  of  God  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto 
all  good  works."     2  Tim.  3:16,  17. 

But  the  Scriptures  are  authoritative,  not  simply 
because  they  are  the  compositions  of  inspired  men, 
but  because  they  are  the  only  existing  compositions 
of  inspired  men.  They  stand  therefore  alone,  with- 
out any  rivals  or  companions.  Whether  other  com- 
positions of  the  same  body  of  inspired  men  ever 
existed,  and  have  been  lost,  is  a  question  wholly 
devoid  of  any  practical  importance.  Its  suggestion 
and  discussion  serve  only  to  divert  attention  from 
the  real  point  at  issue.  If  it  could  be  proved  that 
these  men  had  drawn  up  a  formal  body  of  truth  of 
which  the  existing  books  were  but  a  portion,  there 
might  arise  a  suspicion  of  incompleteness  and  con- 
sequent insufficiency  in  the  surviving  portions :  but 
it  will  shortly  appear  that  the  evidence  leans  strongly 
in  the  other  direction.  It  is  enough  for  the  present 
to  rest  on  the  fact  that  the  books  which  we  have  are 
inspired  books,  and  carry  with  them  the  authority 
due  to  the  commission  and  supernatural  gifts  of 
their  authors.  What  other  books,  not  in  existence, 
may  have  been  written,  is  a  matter  of  useless  spec- 
ulation. As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  can  only  deal  with 
the  books  we  have.  Their  inspired  character  has 
been  already  shown,  and  no  others  exist  like  them. 

The  care  exercised  by  the  ancient  church  in  the 
formation  of  the  New  Testament  canon,  is  evidenced 
by  the  number  of  spurious  books  rejected  as  not 
being  the  genuine  writings  of  inspired  men.  Xo 
Less  than  thirty  spurious  gospels  are  known  to  have 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  53 

existed,  sixteen  books  of  Acts,  and  five  Epistles. 
Eighty  books  have  been  at  various  times  presented 
for  acceptance  into  the  canon,  and  have  been  re- 
jected. These  works  have  not  been  excluded  out 
of  any  arbitrary  decision  that  certain  writers  only 
should  be  accepted  as  inspired,  but  because  they 
bear  upon  themselves  the  manifest  proof  of  impos- 
ture, in  anachronisms,  contradictions,  and  absurdi- 
ties which  render  it  impossible  that  they  could  be 
the  real  productions  of  their  professed  authors. 
The  critical  tests  applied  to  the  canonical  and  to 
the  apocryphal  books  are  precisely  the  same.  The 
examination  confirmatory  of  the  claims  of  the  one 
is  destructive  to  the  claims  of  the  other.  The  ca- 
nonical books  are  the  production  of  inspired  men, 
and  are  the  only  writings  of  the  kind  extant. 

.  rr^The  Scriptures  are  accepted  as  authoritative 
because  they  are  found  to  constitute  in  their  col- 
lected form  one  complete  and  harmonious  revela- 
tion. They  have  been  termed  an  organic  whole. 
The  component  parts  of  this  one  revelation  display 
every  conceivable  variety  of  style,  date,  circumstan- 
ces, and  personal  peculiarity.  The  Bible  contains 
sixty-six  different  books  from  about  thirty  different 
writers.  Their  composition  extends  over  a  period 
of  fifteen  hundred  years.  They  were  written  one 
by  one,  under  circumstances  as  widely  different  as 
can  be  conceived.  Yet  when  brought  together  they 
are  found  to  constitute  one  book,  bridging  over  the 
whole  course  of  human  history,  from  the  creation 
to  the  judgment  and  the  final  kingdom  of  the  Mes- 
siah.     An  unbroken  historical  continuity  pervades 


54  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

them  all.  Tbey  are  so  linked  together,  that  the 
absence  of  any  one  book  of  the  whole  would  inter- 
rupt this  order,  and  make  some  other  portions  unin- 
telligible, which,  as  they  now  stand,  are  intelligible 
and  consistent.  The  same  doctrinal  truths  relative 
to  God  and  man  are  found,  more  or  less  prominently 
i  aught,  from  the  first  book  of  the  series  to  the  last. 
These  truths,  moreover,  are  peculiar  to  this  revela- 
tion, and  stand  out  in  sharply-defined  contrast  from 
all  the  schemes  of  religious  belief  existing  in  ancient 
heathenism.  One  consistent  scheme  of  God's  deal- 
ings towards  man  runs  like  a  thread  of  gold  through- 
out the  whole,  latent  in  the  promises  to  the  patri- 
archs, shadowed  in  the  types  and  ceremonies  of  the 
law,  predicted  with  ever-increasing  clearness  by  the 
prophets,  and  finally  accomplished  in  the  eternal 
substance  of  the  gospel.  The  progression  is  as 
orderly  and  consecutive  as  is  the  progress  of  the 
natural  sun,  as  from  his  rising  in  the  east  he  marches 
up  the  heavens  into  meridian  light  and  glory.  This 
unity  in  variety  implies  the  design  of  an  intelligent 
mind;  but  as  no  human  intelligence  could  act  over 
so  vast  a  lapse  of  time,  the  mind  can  be  no  other 
than  the  mind  of  God.  The  books  must  therefore 
be  divine  in  their  origin,  and  equally  divine  in  their 
authority. 

The  conclusion  thus  formed  is  only  strengthened 
by  the  tendencies  of  skeptical  criticism.  The  whole 
course  of  modern  thought  tends  to  give  to  the  scrip- 
tural books  a  greater  variety  of  date  and  multi- 
plicity of  authorship.  But  the  more  largely  we 
increase  the  number  of  writers  and  the  variety  of 


GBOUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHOKITY.  55 

supposed  sources  of  information,  the  more  aston- 
ishing becomes  the  organic  and  indestructible  unity 
of  doctrinal  teaching,  historical  sequence,  and  intel- 
ligent design  pervading  the  whole.  If  this  unity 
among  thirty  writers  be  so  wonderful  that  we  can 
only  refer  it  to  the  over-ordering  interference  of 
God,  it  must  be  much  more  wonderful  among  a 
hundred,  and  consequently  still  more  manifestly 
divine. 

In  this  particular  likewise  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures stand  alone.  No  other  sacred  books  existing 
in  the  world  exhibit  either  the  same  variety  or  the 
same  unit}'.  The  religious  books  of  the  Persians, 
Hindoos,  and  Chinese  do  not  contain  any  intelligi- 
ble or  consistent  scheme  of  faith.  Comparison  be- 
tween them  and  the  Christian  Bible  lies  beyond  the 
wildest  extravagance  of  skepticism. 

It  must  also  be  briefly  noted  that  this  harmo-")  A 
nious  scheme  of  revelation  is  connected  throughout 
with  corresponding  events  in  human  history.  Its  ' 
sphere  is  not  in  some  imaginary  cloud-land,  but 
amid  the  actual  events  and  transactions  of  the 
world.  At  no  time  has  the  divine  revelation  been 
introduced  abruptly,  but  has  filled  its  appropriate 
place  in  the  orderly  dealings  of  Providence  and  the 
actual  wants  of  humanity.  The  whole  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  are  inseparably  identified 
with  the  history  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  consti- 
tute the  only  explanation  of  its  past  fortunes  and 
present  condition.  The  New  Testament  Scriptures 
are  the  sequel  and  complement  of  the  Old,  and  only 
complete  what  would  otherwise  be  fragmentary  and 


56  GOD'S  WORD   WRITTEN. 

imperfect.  As  the  existence  of  the  Jew  establishes 
beyond  a  doubt  the  historical  groundwork  of  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures,  so  the  existence  of 
Christianity  and  of  the  Christian  establishes  the 
historical  character  of  the  New. 

Lastly,  this  unity  of  design,  perceptible  through 
the  whole  series  of  the  separate  scriptural  books, 
supplies  the  appropriate  answer  to  all  useless  spec- 
ulations relative  to  other  supposed  works  of  inspired 
writers;  for  if  the  books  we  have  form  one  complete 
scheme,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  are  all  we 
were  ever  meant  to  have.  Providence  has  ordered 
that  these,  and  these  alone,  should  be  preserved; 
and  divine  wisdom  has  ordered  that  these  should 
constitute  a  complete  scheme  of  revelation.  Can 
it  be  doubted  that  the  one  is  as  intentional  as  the 
other,  and  that  the  wisdom  overruling  the  compo- 
sition of  the  books  and  the  power  preserving  them 
are  equally  of  God? 

III.  ;The  Christian  Scriptures  are  accepted  as 
authoritative,  because  their  superhuman  contents 
witness  to  their  superhuman  origin.  This  argument 
branches  out  into  several  particulars. 

(a.)  The  subjects  treated  in  them  lie  beyond  the 
possible  scope  of  any  human  knowledge.  This  is 
true  of  many  of  the  historical  facts,  such  as  the 
facts  of  the  Creation,  the  Fall,  and  the  Deluge,  of 
which  no  human  testimony  can  exist.  It  is  true 
throughout  of  the  interpositions  of  God  in  human 
affairs,  and  of  the  purposes  contemplated  in  them, 
alike  as  regards  the  events  of  the  past  and  the 
prospects  of  the  future.    The  mind  of  God  can  only 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  57 

be  known  to  God  himself,  and  can  be  communicated 
to  others  only  by  a  revelation  analogous  to  the  ver- 
bal communications  of  man  with  man.  It  is  true 
especially  in  regard  to  the  divine  nature,  and  the 
incomprehensible  mysteries  of  the  being  of  God — 
mysteries  as  clearly  not  contrary  to  human  reason 
as  they  are  clearly  above  it;  for  the  human  reason 
can  have  no  knowledge  where  it  has  no  experience. 
The  contents  of  the  Bible  stand,  in  this  respect,  in 
very  striking  contrast  to  all  human  speculations 
relative  to  God.  The  latter  are  exaggerations,  and 
sometimes  caricatures  of  the  nature  of  man  himself, 
and  in  their  intense  humanness  betray  their  earthly 
origin.  The  revelation  of  God  in  his  word,  on  the 
contrary,  represents  his  nature  as  wholly  different 
from  our  present  knowledge,  and  therefore  wholly 
above  our  present  apprehension.  The  history,  the 
doctrines,  and  the  morality  of  the  Bible  lie  equally 
beyond  the  sphere  of  human  reason;  yet  at  the 
same  time  they  furnish  the  only  key  to  explain  the 
mysteries  of  human  life,  the  only  hopes  to  supply 
the  wants  of  human  souls,  the  only  motives  and 
influences  to  sanctify  human  conduct.  Nor  is  the 
mode  of  communication  unworthy  of  the  grandeur 
of  the  truths  communicated.  The  sublimity,  ma- 
jesty, and  beauty  of  Scripture,  and  its  tone  of  con- 
scious authority,  are  confessed!)-  unparalleled  in  the 
whole  circle  of  earthly  literature. 

(b.)  The  miraculous  element  of  prediction  stamps 
the  impress  of  a  divine  omnipotence  upon  the  scrip- 
tural books.  In  virtue  of  the  organic  unity  linking 
the  whole  series  of  writings  together,  the  witness  of 


58  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

prophecy  to  any  one  part  of  the  series  would  suffice 
to  reflect  its  own  authority  upon  the  rest.  In  truth, 
however,  the  thread  of  prediction  is  wonderfully 
interwoven  throughout  the  whole.  The  New  Testa- 
ment at  large  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  Old.  Many 
signal  predictions  of  the  ancient  prophets  are  ful- 
filled within  the  knowledge  of  our  own  day,  and 
their  accomplishment  is  found  to  be  the  more  exact 
and  accurate,  the  more  we  know  about  the  circum- 
stances. Egypt.  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Tyre,  are  as 
yet  but  half-deciphered  pages,  but  every  line  blazes 
with  its  testimony  to  ancient  inspiration.  The  very 
history  of  the  world  is  the  history  of  accomplished 
prophecy.  The  living  Jew,  amid  all  changes  of 
time  and  circumstance  still  the  Jew,  as  distinctive 
and  characteristic  in  his  dispersion  among  every 
nation  under  heaven  as  he  was  in  the  days  of  Solo- 
mon or  the  heroic  times  of  the  Maccabees,  stands 
in  the  full  front  of  the  Word,  its  mj-sterious  and 
imperishable  monument.  To  know  the  future  is 
the  sole  prerogative  of  Him  who  orders  it.  The 
emphatic  stress  laid  upon  this  evidence  in  Scrip- 
ture itself  is  very  memorable.  It  is  the  great  argu- 
ment of  the  prophet  Isaiah ;  it  is  the  topic  of  sub- 
lime expostulation  on  the  part  of  God  himself, 
"Who,  as  I,  shall  call,  and  shall  declare  it,  and  set 
it  in  order  for  me,  since  I  appointed  the  ancient 
people?  and  the  things  that  are  coming,  and  shall 
come,  let  them  show  unto  them.  Fear  ye  not,  nei- 
fcher  be  afraid:  have  not  I  told  thee  from  that  time, 
and  have  declared  it  ?  Ye  are  even  my  witnesses." 
Isaiah  14:7,  8.     Not,  however,  on  the  Old  Testa- 


GROUNDS  OF  ITS  AUTHORITY.  59 

ment  alone  is  impressed  this  stamp  of  Omnis- 
cience. The  predictions  of  our  Lord  himself,  the 
warning  declarations  of  St.  Paul  relative  to  the 
man  of  sin,  and  the  whole  structure  of  the  apoca- 
lyptic vision,  are  full  of  the  same  prescience,  and 
have  already  entered  upon  the  same  course  of 
accomplishment. 

Thus,  from  three  separate  directions  is  attested 
the  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  They  are  the 
permanent  embodiment  of  the  inspiration  of  their 
authors  :  being  dead,  they  yet  speak — yet  fulfil 
their  great  commission  as  the  channels  of  a  divine 
revelation.  In  their  collected  form,  the  Scriptures 
bear  in  their  very  front  the  unity  of  their  Author : 
the  outward  world,  composed  of  ten  thousand 
forces  and  elements,  is  not  more  manifestly  one 
cosmos,  nor  witnesses  more  eloquently  to  the  glory 
of  its  Creator,  than  the  collected  Scriptures  are  one 
book,  and  testify  to  the  one  Mind  which  has  mould- 
ed after  his  own  will  such  discordant  and  disordered 
elements  into  one  completed  revelation.  The  sub- 
limity of  its  subject-matter  and  the  singular  beauty 
of  its  composition,  attest  its  higher  than  human 
authorship.  These  lines  of  argument  present  to  us 
the  exterior  of  the  temple  of  truth.  Full  of  praise 
and  wonder,  we  enter  into  its  courts;  and  what  is 
the  voice  that  fills  them  but  the  voice  of  God,  pen- 
etrating and  solemn  as  that  "still  small  voice" 
before  which  the  prophet  of  Israel  veiled  his  face 
in  his  mantle  as  one  who  could  not  look  upon  God? 
The  three  lines  of  argument  concur  in  one  conclu- 
sion, blend  into  one  ray  of  heavenly  light,  constitute 


60  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

one  diadem  of  glory,  swell  into  one  song  of  praise. 
The  Christian  Scriptures  are  a  revelation  from 
God,  and  come  clothed  with  his  authority  to  the 
human  heart  and  conscience.  Nothing  less  than 
this  can  be  admitted — nothing  more  or  higher  can 
be  said.     The  Bible  is  the  word  of  God. 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.     61 


CHAPTEE   IV. 

THE  WHOLE  SCRIPTURES  ARE  THE  WORD  OF 
GOD. 

Presumption  that  an  Equal  Authority  attaches  to  the  whole  Scrip- 
tures— Difference  of  containing  the  Word  of  God,  and  being  the 
Word  of  God — Modern  Theories — The  Inspired  Authorship  of 
the  Bible  belongs  to  all  its  Contents  without  Distinction— Its 
Historical  Details  as  clearly  comprehended  within  its  Unity  of 
Design  as  its  Doctrinal  Revelations— Connection  of  the  De- 
tailed Parts  of  Scripture  with  its  Sublime  Doctrines — The 
Authority  coextensive  alike  with  the  Authorship,  the  Structu- 
ral Unity,  and  the  Doctrinal  Revelation. 

The  character  of  a  whole  must  necessarily  be 
the  character  of  its  component  parts.  Any  simple 
and  complete  object  may  be  taken  as  an  illustra- 
tion— a  piece  of  sculpture,  a  painting,  a  building,  a 
machine.  We  may  judge  of  one  part  separately 
from  another  part,  but  we  cannot  judge  of  the  whole 
separately  either  from  any  or  from  all  its  parts, 
simply  because  the  aggregate  of  all  the  parts  makes 
up  the  whole.  Take  any  one  part  away,  and  what 
is  left  ceases  to  be  the  whole.  The  statue  and  the 
painting  may  have  many  exquisitely  beautiful  parts, 
and  yet  another  part  may  be  either  incorrect  in 
conception  or  faulty  in  execution.  The  architect's 
design  may  exhibit  features  of  surpassing  excel- 
lence, and  yet  be  marred  by  great  defects :  it  may 
be  exquisite  in  its  details,  and  yet  want  breadth  of 
effect;  or  it  may  possess  dignity  of  outline,  and  yet 


G2  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

its  minor  parts  may  be  disproportioned  and  out  of 
place.  The  machine  may  exhibit  great  ingenuity 
of  construction,  and  yet  some  practical  defect  may 
baffle  the  resources  of  the  inventor,  and  render  his 
ingenuity  comparatively  useless.  There  may  exist 
great  beauty  and  acknowledged  merits,  in  spite  of 
defects,  and  yet  in  every  case,  without  exception, 
the  standard  of  excellence  attained  by  the  whole  is 
lowered  by  the  defects  of  the  parts.  No  work  can 
be  perfect  unless  all  its  parts  are  perfect ;  the  char- 
acter of  the  whole  must  follow  the  character  of  its 
component  parts;  and,  on  the  other  side,  the  com- 
ponent parts  must  partake  of  the  character  of  the 
whole.  Let  it  be  said  that  this  particular  produc- 
tion of  art  is  a  perfect  statue,  a  perfect  painting,  a 
perfect  building,  a  perfect  machine;  and  the  state- 
ment involves  the  absence  of  perceptible  fault  in 
any  and  all  of  its  parts. 

The  same  mode  of  speaking  must  hold  good  in 
regard  to  the  word  of  God.  What  its  exact  char- 
acter and  the  amount  of  its  authority  may  be,  de- 
pends upon  further  examination.  But  before  the 
inquirer  proceeds  to  investigate  these  questions,  it 
is  right  for  him  to  recognize  the  presumptive  proof 
already  readied,  that  this  character  and  authority, 
whatever  they  may  be,  will  pervade  equally  the 
whole  Bible,  unless  some  specific  reason  can  be 
alleged  to  the  contrary.  A  want  of  attention  to\ 
this  preliminary  probability  lies  at  the  root  of  any  r" 
difficulties  upon  the  question  of  inspiration. 

Three  principal  varieties  of  opinion  are  percep- 
tible  in  modern  controversv,   and    contain    within 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       63 

themselves  many  shades  and  degrees  not  calling 
for  special  notice.  The  first  denies  the  Divine  au- 
thority of  the  Bible,  and  refusing  to  recognize  it  as 
a  complete  book,  claims  the  liberty  of  rejecting  its 
particular  portions  at  pleasure.  The  second  accepts 
the  Divine  authority  of  the  Bible,  but  denies  that 
this  authority  extends  equally  throughout  all  its 
parts.  The  third  accepts  the  Divine  authority  of 
the  whole  Bible,  without  reserve  or  limitation.  The 
first  and  the  last  of  these  are  consistent,  because 
they  attach  an  equivalent  value  to  the  whole  and 
to  its  parts — the  one  denying  the  whole,  and  the 
other  accepting  it;  the  second  is  inconsistent,  be- 
cause it  affirms  that  the  whole  Bible  is  a  Divine 
revelation,  and  yet  denies  that  all  its  parts  are  a 
Divine  revelation.  The  first  of  these  opinions  al- 
ready falls  behind  the  present  course  of  inquiry, 
since  it  concentrates  opposition  on  the  three  rea- 
sons alleged  in  the  last  chapter,  and  denies  with 
equal  vehemence  the  inspired  authority  of  the 
scriptural  witers,  the  structural  unity  of  their  wri- 
tings, and  the  supernatural  character  of  their  con- 
tents. We  therefore  leave  this  class  of  opinion  be- 
hind, although  it  will  be  indirectly  touched  by  the 
whole  course  of  the  argument.  The  second  variety 
of  opinion  accepts  the  three  reasons  above  named, 
and  therefore  advances  side  by  side  with  us  to  the 
further  discussion  of  the  extent  of  scriptural  inspi- 
ration. The  conclusions  already  stated  will  there- 
fore be  assumed  to  be  admitted  principles,  to 
which  appeal  may  be  made  towards  the  settlement 
of  the  specific  question,  whether  the  inspiration  of 


01  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Scripture  extends  only  to  parts  of  the  canonical 
books,  or  to  the  whole  of  them  without  exception. 

But  a  presumption  in  favor  of  its  unlimited  ex- 
tension already  arises  from  the  grounds  of  its  au- 
thority. If  this  presumption  can  be  clearly  estab- 
lished, it  will  throw  the  weight  of  proof  on  the  other 
side  of  the  question.  It  will  remain  for  those  who 
accept  the  general  authority  of  Scripture,  but  deny 
its  extension  to  all  its  parts,  to  prove  the  necessity 
of  the  limitation,  and  to  establish  the  positive  evi- 
dence of  it. 

The  grounds  of  the  authority  of  Scripture  have 
been  already  stated  to  be  mainly  three.  The  argu- 
ment must  follow  their  order,  and  run  on  the  same 
/  lines.  To  what  extent,  if  at  all,  are  these  three  rea- 
sons applicable  to  the  whole  contents  of  the  canoni- 
cal Scriptures? 

I.  The  authority  of  the  writers  clearly  extends 
over  the  whole  of  their  writings,  unless  there  be 
some  expressed  limitation  to  the  contrary.  In  its 
absence,  the  authority  must  be  coextensive  with  the 
authorship.  "We  might  have  possessed  books  in 
which  fragments  by  inspired  writers  may  have  been 
incorporated  with  other  matter  from  inferior  pens. 
In  such  a  case,  the  authors  would  have  been  re- 
sponsible for  what  they  wrote,  and  for  no  more. 
Where  they  wrote  all,  they  are  resj^onsible  for  all. 
Whatever  authority  the  character  of  the  writer 
confers,  extends  to  every  part  equally  of  the  writing 
emanating  from  his  pen  and  attested  by  his  sanc- 
tion. It  is  thus  we  judge  of  secular  books,  nnd 
thus,  therefore,  we  ought  to  judge  of  sacred.    What- 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       Go 

ever  was  written  by  St.  Paul  carries  with  it  what- 
ever weight  the  apostolic  commission  and  inspired 
authority  of  the  author  may  be  supposed  to  confer. 
The  nature  of  the  subject-matter  does  not  affect 
the  identity  of  authorship  in  any  way.  An  histori- 
cal work,  for  instance,  will  necessarily  contain  pas- 
sages of  widely  different  character,  and  which  tax, 
in  widely  different  directions  and  degrees,  the  re- 
sources of  the  author.  On  one  page  we  read  an 
eloquent  exposition  of  the  character  of  an  age,  or  a 
philosophical  analysis  of  the  causes  concurring  in 
its  production.  On  another  page  we  read  an  array 
of  details  relative,  for  instance,  to  the  industrial  re- 
sources of  some  country,  the  nature  of  its  revenues, 
its  comparative  exports  and  imports,  or  the  amount 
of  its  warlike  preparations,  the  number  of  its 
armies,  or  the  exact  extent  of  its  available  forces 
in  some  special  crisis  of  its  history.  Passages  of 
the  first  character  will  have  called  into  play  much 
higher  intellectual  faculties,  and  have  taxed  them 
to  a  much  greater  extent,  than  passages  of  the 
latter  kind.  The  one  demands  thought,  discrimi- 
nating judgment,  careful  generalization,  and  the 
exercise  of  the  imaginative  faculties ;  the  other  re- 
quires honesty  of  purpose,  diligence  of  research, 
and  accuracy  of  statement.  Yet  for  the  purposes 
of  the  historian,  the  one  class  may  be  as  absolutely 
important  as  the  other;  for  if  the  facts  were  wrong, 
the  conclusions  founded  upon  them  would,  in  all 
probability,  be  wrong  likewise.  The  historian  is 
therefore  equally  responsible  for  them  both.  Both 
classes  of  statement  are  equally  the  fruit  of  his  la- 


GG  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

bor  and  the  production  of  his  pen ;  both  equally 
share  the  authority  of  his  character.  The  confi- 
dence we  repose  in  the  accuracy  of  the  facts  is  as 
great  as  the  admiration  with  which  we  follow  the 
progress  of  his  argument ;  or  rather,  we  are  much 
more  dependent  upon  the  character  of  the  writer  in 
the  one  case  than  we  are  in  the  other ;  for  we  shall 
be  less  capable  of  ascertaining  the  accuracy  of  the 
facts  than  of  testing  the  soundness  of  his  conclu- 
sions from  them.  Each  varying  passage  exhibits 
its  appropriate  quality  in  the  author,  and  receives 
its  corresponding  acceptance  from  the  reader.  But 
the  fact  of  the  authorship,  and  whatever  claim  upon 
our  credence  may  be  involved  in  it,  extends  to  all 
the  passages  alike.  The  claim  may  be  great  or  lit- 
tle, but  it  extends  equally  to  all  the  parts  of  the  one 
work  of  the  one  author. 

In  the  same  way  the  contents  of  the  Bible  differ 
very  much  in  their  subject-matter.  Thus  the  Old 
Testament  contains  books  of  history,  books  of  devo- 
tion, books  of  prophetic  teaching.  Some  of  the  his- 
torical books  are  remarkable  for  the  subordinate 
place  occupied  in  them  by  the  directly  religious 
element  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  books  of  Joshua  and 
Judges  and  the  books  of  Buth  and  Esther.  In  the 
last  of  these,  the  name  of  God  does  not  even  occur. 
The  devotional  books  are  replete  with  the  utter- 
ances of  a  personal  experience  which  would  have 
been  wholly  out  of  place  in  historical  narratives. 
The  prophetic  books,  professing  to  contain  the  ap- 
plication of  the  divine  promises  and  threatenings  to 
the  religious  exigencies  of  the  times  of  the  proph- 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       67 

ets,  are  distinguished  by  the  lofty  sublimity  of  their 
language  and  the  grandeur  of  their  predictions. 
The  style  and  structure  of  each  book  necessarily 
follows  the  character  of  its  subject-matter  and  the 
objects  contemplated  in  its  production.  The  asser- 
tion that  all  these  various  books  may  have  been 
alike  issued  under  the  authority  of  a  superintending 
and  inspiring  God  does  not  contradict  in  the  slight- 
est degree  any  principle  of  human  consistency,  but 
may  rather  be  supported  by  many  human  analogies. 
For  instance,  the  architect  employs  many  classes  of 
workmen,  and  many  different  men  in  each  class,  in 
the  production  of  the  building;  through  a  gradu- 
ated series  of  subordinates,  he  extends  the  influence 
of  his  own  mind  and  will  throughout  the  whole  of 
the  workmen,  and  thus  models  the  entire  building 
into  conformity  with  his  design.  The  influence  of 
his  paramount  care  and  authority  extends  as  truly 
to  the  ordinary  mason  who  constructs  the  solid 
parts  of  the  edifice,  as  to  the  sculptor  and  the 
painter  who  contribute  its  ornaments.  But  his 
responsibility  for  success  or  failure  is  co-extensive 
with  his  authority.  In  the  same  mode,  there  is  no 
reason  why  God,  in  planning  and  gradually  carry- 
ing into  effect  the  whole  scheme  of  his  revelation 
to  mankind,  should  not  have  employed  the  narra- 
tive of  the  historian  as  well  as  the  experience  of  the 
sacred  poet  and  the  genius  of  the  prophet.  Every 
part  proceeding  from  the  design  of  God  will,  there- 
fore, carry  with  it  equally  the  authority  of  God. 

The  same  truth  may  be  applied  to  the  separate 
books  of  the  Scripture.     The  books  of  Moses,  for 


G8  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

instance,  contain  portions  differing  widely  from  each 
other  in  their  subject-matter,  and  consequently  in 
their  style.  Thus,  within  the  limits  of  Genesis  are 
comprised  the  sublime  description  of  the  creation 
and  the  pathetic  narratives  of  the  patriarchal  his- 
tory on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  bare  gene- 
alogical lists  such  as  occur  in  Genesis  10  and  11. 
Similarly,  Leviticus  contains  an  enumeration  of  de- 
tailed laws,  bearing  on  questions  very  minute  and 
apparently  trivial ;  while  Deuteronomy  contains  the 
last  addresses  from  God  to  the  people  of  Israel, 
through  the  lips  of  Moses,  before  they  entered  into 
the  promised  land.  In  each  case  the  style  and  dic- 
tion are  appropriate  to  the  subject-matter  and  to  the 
object  contemplated  in  the  revelation ;  they  exhibit 
variances  in  these  respects  precisely  analogous  to 
what  are  found  in  uninspired  compositions.  Some 
critics  appear  to  think  that  the  narrative  of  the  cre- 
ation, in  Genesis  1,  ought  to  have  been  written  with 
the  terse  brevity  of  the  Toldoth  Beni  Noah  of  Gen- 
esis 10 ;  or,  on  the  contrary,  that  this  ethnological 
statement  should  have  been  conveyed  with  the  lofty 
simplicity  and  graphic  vividness  of  the  account  of 
the  creation.  To  suit  their  views,  the  enumeration 
of  the  legal  enactments  of  Leviticus  should  either 
have  exhibited  the  rhetorical  force  and  rich  gran- 
deur of  Deuteronomy,  or  the  prophetic  warnings  of 
Deuteronomy  should  have  been  couched  in  the  cold 
and  unimpassioned  language  of  Leviticus.  The 
strict  naturalness  with  which,  as  the  case  stands, 
the  language  of  each  portion  of  the  Pentateuch  fol- 
lows the  character  of  its  subject-matter,  confirms  in 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.      69 

the  strongest  manner  the  genuineness  of  the  whole. 
There  is  no  more  reason  why  the  same  man  may 
not  have  written  both  Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy, 
both  Genesis  1  and  Genesis  10,  than  there  is  why 
the  same  Homer  may  not  have  composed  the  list 
of  ships  in  one  book  of  the  Iliad,  and  the  parting 
of  Hector  and  Andromache  in  another;  or  why 
the  same  Lord  Macaulay  may  not  have  composed 
equally  the  account  of  the  Loan  Bill  of  December 
15,  1692,  and  the  graphic  history  of  the  Irish  rebel- 
lion in  1691,  contained  in  the  same  volume,  of  his 
history.  But  if  Moses  was  the  author  of  these 
respective  passages  alike,  then  the  weight  of  his 
authority,  however  it  may  be  estimated,  belongs  in 
equal  degree  to  them  all.  If  one  is  to  be  believed 
because  Moses  wrote  it,  the  other  must  be  believed 
equally  for  the  same  reason.  The  conclusion  must 
be  applied  to  all  the  scriptural  books.  "Whatever 
inspired  writers  wrote  carries  with  it  the  weight  of 
inspired  authority. 

The  question  is  therefore  a  matter  of  fact.  Are 
all  the  parts  of  the  scriptural  books  equally  the 
composition  of  their  reputed  authors?  The  reply 
is,  that  whatever  weight  of  proof  exists  for  ascribing 
to  their  authorship  a  part  of  them,  exists  for  ascri- 
bing to  their  authorship  the  whole  of  them.  We 
have  the  strongest  possible  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  existing  books  of  the  sacred  canon  are 
substantially  co-extensive  with  the  original  auto- 
graphs of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  The  evi- 
dence is  derived  from  the  outside,  since  no  asser- 
tion  made   in   the   books  themselves   could    have 


/ 


70  GOD'S   WORD   ^Y^vITTE^T. 

proved  it,  while  the  amount  of  credit  due  to  the 
books  was  the  question  for  decision.  God  has  so 
ordered  the  circumstances  relative  both  to  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  that  no  alteration  of  the  man- 
uscripts is  conceivable  so  long  as  the  ordinary  mo- 
tives of  human  action  are  allowed  to  have  influenced 
past  times  as  they  influence  the  present. 

In  regard  to  the  Old  Testament,  the  proof  is 
supplied  by  the  divided  and  scattered  condition  of 
the  Hebrew  people  at  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies,  a 
time  falling  within  the  recognized  historical  period 
of  the  world.  The  most  imaginative  of  modern 
writers  will  not  call  into  question  that  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  we  have  them  now  were 
in  existence  at  the  time  of  the  translation  of  the 
Septuagint,  or  that  they  were  acknowledged  among 
the  Jews  all  over  the  world,  or  that  they  were 
regarded  by  them  with  a  reverence  so  great  that  it 
ran  into  superstition,  and  may  almost  be  regarded 
as  idolatrous.  Nor  will  it  be  denied  that  the  most 
ancient  portions  of  these  sacred  books,  the  Penta- 
teuch, are  still  extant  in  two  different  forms,  the 
Jewish  and  the  Samaritan  ;  or  that  these  two  ver- 
sions, substantially  agreeing,  are  yet  distinguished 
by  characteristic  peculiarities  of  their  own  ;  or  that 
the  jealous  hostility  existing  from  the  times  of  Itc- 
hoboam  downwards  between  these  two  separated 
1  tranches  of  the  one  ancient  race  must  have  ren- 
dered collusion  impossible.  All  modern  criticism 
has  found  it  much  more  convenient  to  ignore  the 
question  altogether  than  to  suggest  a  reasonable 
and    conceivable    hypothesis    how    documents    so 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       71 

handed  down  can  have  undergone  any  wilful  pro- 
cess of  corruption  or  addition.  No  other  mode  of 
proof  can  be  conceived  so  free  from  all  possible 
suspicion  or  partiality  as  this  which  God  has  actu- 
ally provided. 

It  is  the  less  necessary  to  enlarge  on  this  evi- 
dence, because  the  substantial  identity  of  our  pres- 
ent copies  with  the  ancient  manuscripts  of  the  Scrip- 
tures is  not  seriously  called  into  question.  Modern 
criticism  scarcely  dares  to  suggest  more  than  an 
occasional  interpolation  on  the  part  of  the  tran-  \ 
scribers.  The  grounds  on  which  even  these  inter- 
polations are  asserted  are  ludicrously  arbitrary  and 
capricious.  Critics  have  undertaken  to  arrange  the 
original  manuscripts  of  the  Pentateuch  on  the  au- 
thority of  a  critical  instinct  of  their  own ;  and  when 
any  passage  has  not  lent  itself  easily  to  a  favorite 
hypothesis,  it  has  been  at  once  accused  and  sum- 
marily sentenced  as  an  interpolation.  Such  a  mode 
of  argument  is  wholly  undeserving  of  serious  notice. 
But  the  probability  of  occasional  mistakes  in  the 
transcription  of  the  sacred  books,  and  the  occa- 
sional insertion  of  notes  into  the  text,  may  be  read- 
ily allowed  without  throwing  doubt  upon  the  fact 
that  the  autographs  of  the  sacred  books  were  sub- 
stantially identical  with  our  existing  copies,  and 
contained  the  same  admixture  of  historical  narra- 
tive and  detail  with  doctrinal  teaching  and  author- 
itative prediction. 

The  conclusion  therefore  remains,  that  the  au- 
thority of  the  inspired  writers  extends  to  all  that 
they  wrote ;  and  consequently  that  whatever  author- 


72  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

itv  is  affirmed  for  some  portions  of  their  writing  is 
really  claimed  for  the  whole.  The  language  nsed  in 
one  scriptural  book  towards  other  scriptural  books 
confirms  this  conclusion.  They  are  described  by 
single  names,  descriptive  of  the  whole  of  their  con- 
tents, and  which  receive,  from  the  known  habit  of 
speaking  among  the  Jews,  a  definite  application. 
Thus  the  five  books  of  Moses  are  described  under 
the  single  epithet,  "  the  Law;"  the  sixteen  prophet- 
ical books  under  the  name  "  the  Prophets :"  "  the  law 
and  the  prophets  were  until  John,"  Matt.  11 :  13.  Or 
more  tersely  still,  the  Pentateuch  is  described  by 
the  single  name  of  its  reputed  author,  "  Moses ;" 
"  they  have  Moses  and  the  prophets."  When  we 
find  an  independent  testimony  that  the  Jews  were 
accustomed  to  divide  the  Old  Testament  books  into 
the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Hagiographa,  it  is 
impossible  to  give  to  these  expressions  any  nar- 
rower signification.  That  the  threefold  Jewish  di- 
vision contained  the  same  number  of  books  as  the 
existing  canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  known  to  us 
positively  by  the  impartial  testimony  of  Josephus. 

In  accordance  with  this  habit,  David  in  his  day 
applied  to  the  books  of  Moses  expressions  of  a  cor- 
resj  tonding  kind.  He  refers  with  great  frequency  to 
God's  law,'  or  God's  word,  or  God's  statutes,  in  pas- 
-  where  it  is  impossible  to  apply  the  expression 
t  )  anyone  particular  passage,  or  any  special  immedi- 
ate message  from  God ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  analogy 
drawn  in  Psalm  19  between  the  light  of  the  natural 
sun  and  the  influences  of  Scripture.  The  same  mode 
of  speaking  can  be  traced  downwards  to  the  Xew 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.      73 

Testament  times.  When  the  temple  copy  of  the 
books  of  Moses  was  discovered  in  Josiah's  days,  it 
was  described  as  "  the  book  of  the  law,"  2  Kings  22 : 8. 
Isaiah  asserts  the  perpetuity  of  "the  Word  of  the 
Lord,"  Isa.  11:8.  Jeremiah  declares  its  precious- 
ness  :  "  Thy  Word  was  unto  me  the  joy  and  rejoi- 
cing of  my  heart,"  Jer.  15 :16  ;  this  expression  imme- 
diately follows  a  message  of  judgment,  so  that  it 
could  not  be  of  the  immediate  message,  but  of  the 
general  body  of  the  promises,  that  the  prophet 
spake.  Our  Lord  charged  it  upon  the  Pharisees 
that  they  made  "the  Word  of  God"  of  none  effect 
through  their  tradition,  Matt.  15 : 6.  St.  Paul  speaks 
of  "  Scripture,"  and,  in  a  manner  parallel  to  the  lan- 
guage of  David,  applies  what  may  be  called  corpo- 
rate epithets  to  it :  "  The  Word  of  God  is  quick  and 
powerful,"  Heb.  4 :  12.  St.  Peter  declares  it  to  be  "the 
incorruptible  seed,"  and  identifies  it  with  the  word 
just  preached,  and  then  written  by  the  apostles : 
"  This  is  the  word  which  by  the  gospel  is  preached 
unto  you,"  1  Pet.  1 :  25.  This  habitual  use  of  single 
terms,  or  of  nouns  of  number,  to  describe  a  series  of 
books,  supplies  a  strong  attestation  to  the  unity  of 
their  respective  authorship,  and  their  consequent 
unity  of  authority. 

II.  Beyond  the  authority  given  to  the  sacred 
books  by  the  inspiration  of  their  authors,  a  further 
attestation  is  given  them  by  their  own  structural 
unity.  The  historical  sequence  preserved  through- 
out the  revelation,  the  identity  of  doctrinal  truth, 
and  the  orderly  method  of  its  exposition,  can  only 
be  the  result  of  intelligence.     In  the  case  of  books 

Word.  -j. 


74  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

ranging  over  such  vast  periods  of  time,  and  com- 
posed by  so  many  different  writers,  the  intelligence 
exercised  can  only  be  that  of  God.  We  have  already 
seen  that  the  contents  of  Scripture  differ  very  widely 
in  their  subject-matter,  and  comprise  history,  biog- 
raphy, devotional  poetry,  prediction,  and  the  dog- 
matic statement  of  doctrines  at  once  the  most  varied 
and  the  most  sublime  in  the  world.  Does  this  unity 
of  plan  include  all  these  various  parts,  or  rather  does 
it  require  them  for  its  completeness?  What  has 
been  already  said  in  regard  to  the  authorship  is 
true  also  of  the  unity.  Whatever  stamp  of  author- 
ity is  given  to  the  Scriptures  by  their  internal  unity 
extends  so  far  and  only  so  far  as  the  unity  extends. 
If  the  unity  comprises  the  doctrinal  portions  of 
Scripture  only,  then  to  those  portions  only  will  it 
give  the  stamp  of  a  Divine  intelligence.  But  if  it 
comprises  the  historical,  biographical,  and  devo- 
tional likewise,  and  would  itself  be  destroyed  by  the 
removal  of  any  portion  of  the  canonical  books,  then 
to  these,  without  exception,  does  it  extend  the  au- 
thority of  a  revelation  schemed  in  the  Divine  mind, 
and,  through  the  agency  of  human  instruments,  ex- 
ecuted by  the  Divine  wisdom. 

The  existence  of  a  manifest  order  pervading  the 
entire  series  of  books  from  Genesis  to  Revelation 
lies  upon  the  surface,  patent  to  the  most  casual 
observation.  There  is  not  a  book  which  does  not 
contribute  something  to  our  stock  of  information 
relative  to  the  ways  of  God  with  man  ;  not  one  the 
absence  of  which  would  not  produce  a  gap  in  the 
continuity  of  our  knowledge.     The  complete  Scrip- 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       75 

tures  contain  an  entire  history  of  man  in  his  rela- 
tion towards  God.  They  take  up  the  wondrous 
story  in  the  eternity  before  time,  carry  it  on  con- 
secutively over  the  whole  course  of  time,  and  only 
cease  with  the  eternity  after  time,  when  the  condi- 
tion of  man,  his  moral  trial  over,  shall  again  be- 
come fixed  and  absolute  as  it  was  before  the  fall. 
Throughout  the  whole  of  these  ages  one  harmonious 
plan  of  redemption  marches  on  towards  its  accom- 
plishment. The  successive  steps  of  the  plan  are 
likewise  the  exact  gradations  of  the  record.  We  are 
presented  with  its  first  beginnings  in  the  promise  of 
a  Redeemer,  made  to  man  in  Eden ;  are  invited  to 
watch  the  calling  and  growth,  first  of  the  family, 
and  afterwards  of  the  nation  selected  to  furnish  its 
human  instruments.  We  are  made  acquainted  with 
their  education,  their  national  obligations  and  sins, 
their  rise,  greatness,  decline,  and  fall.  Amid  the 
course  of  the  history  we  watch  the  development  of 
the  Divine  plan,  and  its  progressive  revelation  as 
the  times  drew  on  for  its  accomplishment.  We  view 
its  actual  execution  in  the  incarnation,  life,  death, 
and  resurrection,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We 
watch  the  commencement  of  its  outward  life  in  the 
labors  of  the  apostles,  and  the  exposition  of  its  in- 
ward life  in  their  teaching.  Lastly,  we  find  in  the 
Apocalypse  a  sketch  of  its  fortunes  in  the  world  up 
to  the  time  of  our  Master's  predicted  return,  and 
the  consummation  all  things.  Throughout  this  con- 
nected line  no  one  book  could  be  omitted  without 
omitting  a  link.  Nay  more,  no  one  separate  class 
of  books  could  be  omitted  without  leaving  some 


76  GOD'S  WORD   WRITTEN. 

crucial  and   essential  point  of   the   history  unex- 
plained. 

Thus,  for  instance,  no  one  of  the  five  books  of 
Moses  could  be  destroyed  without  breaking  the 
links  of  the  historical  narrative.  If  Genesis  had 
been  absent,  we  should  have  known  nothing  of  the 
descent,  character,  and  Divine  election,  of  the  people 
who  were  oppressed  in  Egypt.  If  Exodus  had  been 
omitted,  the  giving  of  the  Law  upon  Sinai,  and  the 
history  of  the  forty  years'  wanderings  would  have 
been  unintelligible.  Without  Leviticus  we  should 
be  ignorant  of  the  details  of  the  law,  and,  conse- 
quently, be  unable  to  explain  the  phenomena  of 
Jewish  history,  either  in  the  past  or  in  the  present. 
If  Numbers  were  absent,  we  should  be  without  in- 
formation on  the  history  of  the  forty  years  inter- 
vening between  the  Exodus  and  the  settlement  in 
Canaan.  If  Deuteronomy  were  absent,  the  pur- 
poses of  God  towards  the  people,  the  solemn  alter- 
natives of  reward  or  punishment  under  which  they 
entered  upon  their  mission,  and  the  astonishing 
attestation  furnished  to  the  Divine  authority  of 
Scripture  by  the  correspondence  between  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  Jewish  race  and  the  Mosaic 
predictions,  would  have  been  lost  to  us.  If  the  Pen- 
tateuch had  been  absent  altogether,  we  should  have 
had  a  history  without  a  beginning,  a  superstructure 
without  a  foundation,  a  narrative  without  a  key  to 
its  explanation.  If  the  books  of  Joshua  and  Judges 
had  been  absent,  the  political  and  religious  condi- 
tion of  the  Jews  of  the  days  of  Samuel  and  David 
with  the  striking  changes  accomplished  since  the 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       77 

settlement,  would  have  been  inexplicable.  If  the 
historical  books  from  Samuel  to  Ezra  had  been 
omitted,  the  writings  of  the  prophets  would  have 
been  divorced  from  the  occasions  on  which  they 
were  written ;  and  in  this  severance  of  the  histori- 
cal connection  the  prophetic  books  would  have  been 
deprived  alike  of  the  evidence  to  their  authority, 
and  of  the  means  of  their  interpretation.  Lastly,  if 
the  historical  books  had  existed,  and  the  prophet- 
ical had  been  absent,  the  adaptation  of  the  Divine 
dealings  to  the  facts  of  the  history,  the  close  rela- 
tion between  the  two,  and  the  full  development  of 
God's  plan  of  salvation  as,  amid  the  decline  of  the 
earthly  kingdom,  the  spiritual  empire  of  the  Mes- 
siah was  thrown  more  and  more  into  prominence, 
would  all  have  been  hidden  from  the  world. 

In  the  New  Testament  the  dependence  of  the 
various  books  upon  each  other  is  yet  more  con- 
spicuous. Had  the  gospels  been  absent,  the  facts 
of  our  blessed  Lord's  life,  sufferings,  and  death, 
and  the  consequent  fulfilment  in  them  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophecies,  would  have  remained  un- 
known. In  that  case,  the  doctrinal  books  would 
have  so  far  resembled  the  sacred  books  of  Persia 
and  India,  that  they  would  have  become  specula- 
tive theories,  without  any  firm  foothold  on  the  facts 
of  actual  history.  How  much  would  have  been 
lost  by  the  absence  of  any  one  of  the  gospels,  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  the  sublime  portraiture  of 
Christ,  now  possessed  by  the  church,  is  composed 
of  lineaments  contributed  by  all  the  four  evange- 
lists.    The  picture  is  complete  in  no  one  of  them, 


78  GODS   WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  yet,  as  gathered  out  of  the  four,  does  not  pre- 
sent a  single  incongruous  or  superfluous  feature. 
If  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  had  not  been  written, 
the  mode  of  preaching  the  gospel  'adopted  by  the 
apostles  and  their  contemporaries,  and  the  nature 
of  the  opposition  it  encountered,  would  have  been 
matters  of  conjectural  probability,  not  of  certain 
knowledge.  Many  of  the  allusions  of  the  apostolic 
epistles  would  also  have  become  unintelligible.  If 
the  Epistles  had  been  absent,  we  should  have  been 
deprived  of  an  authoritative  explanation  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel,  and  their  relation  to  the  wants 
of  the  soul  and  the  practical  necessities  of  life. 
Lastly,  had  the  Book  of  the  Revelation  been  ab- 
sent, and  the  church  consequently  had  not  pos- 
sessed its  divine  warning  of  the  ceaseless  conflicts 
through  which  Christianity  should  accomplish  its 
work,  there  would  have  been  danger  of  thinking 
that  the  gospel  had  failed,  and  of  regarding  the 
past  with  disappointment  and  the  future  with 
despair. 

Viewing  the  entire  range  of  the  scriptural  books 
together,  we  see  that,  had  any  one  portion  of  them 
been  absent,  the  wonderful  system  of  mutual  refer- 
ence and  connection  now  perceptible  between  the 
Mosaic  books  and  the  historical,  the  historical  and 
the  prophetical,  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  books  of  the  New,  would  have  become 
impossible.  As  the  books  stand,  they  present  one 
continuous  history.  ^Ve  are  able  to  grasp  it  as  a 
whole,  as  vividly  as  we  can  grasp  the  history  of  any 
secular  people.      So  closely  connected  are  all  its 


IT   INCLUDES  THE   WHOLE  BIBLE.      70 

parts,  that  the  break  of  four  hundred  years  between 
Malachi  and  Matthew  serves  rather  to  illustrate 
than  to  interrupt  the  continuity.  It  is  also  worthy 
of  remark,  that  during  this  period  secular  history 
came  into  existence,  and  serves  to  throw  very  con- 
siderable light  on  the  history  of  the  dispersed  tribes. 
The  information  thus  gained  in  a  large  number  of 
particulars  confirms,  and  in  no  one  single  instance 
contradicts  the  statements  of  Scripture,  but  fits  in 
with  an  equal  harmony  to  the  preceding  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  the  succeeding  books  of 
the  New. 

But  the  same  unity  of  plan  traceable  between 
the  various  canonical  books  can  be  traced  likewise 
between  the  various  parts  of  the  same  books.  The 
dependence  of  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament  upon  the  historical  facts  interwoven  with 
it  is  so  transparent,  that  it  suits  my  present  pur- 
pose better  to  take  an  illustration  of  the  fact  from 
the  more  doubtful,  or  rather  the  less  plaiu  and  pal- 
pable instances  of  the  Old  Testament.  Of  all  the 
portions  of  the  Scripture  writings  commonly  alleged 
to  be  traditional  and  fragmentary,  the  genealogical 
lists  of  Genesis,  Numbers,  and  Chronicles  constitute 
the  most  conspicuous  instances.  If  I  may  so  say, 
the  weakest  part  of  the  case  is  here.  If,  therefore, 
even  these  can  be  shown  to  fill  their  harmonious 
place  in  the  structure  of  the  whole,  the  same  conclu- 
sion may  be  confidently  claimed  in  other  instances. 

To  attempt  to  trace  this  connection  into  every 
minute  detail  and  particular  word,  would  not  only 
be  unnecessary,  but  preposterous;   for  in  human 


80  GOD'S   WOKL  WRITTEN. 

works  allowed  without  dispute  to  be  the  product  of 
one  mind  and  one  pen,  and  to  be  pervaded  by  one 
intelligent  purpose,  no  such  unity  can  be  traced.  It- 
is  enough  to  find  its  existence  in  the  subordinate 
section  of  which  particular  words  form  a  part. 

For  example,  the  detail  given  by  Lord  Macaulay 
of  the  Loan  Bill  of  December  15,  1692,  has  already 
been  cited.  .  The  object  of  the  writer  in  noticing 
this  bill  is  obvious.  The  national  debt  of  Great 
Britain,  with  all  the  complicated  interests  involved 
in  it,  took  its  rise  in  this  measure.  But  it  would 
be  impossible  to  trace  an  intelligent  motive  in  every 
detail  of  the  narration.  Who  could  trace  any 
important  object  in  the  statement  that  the  duties 
levied  under  the  act  were  to  be  kept  separate  from 
all  other  receipts,  and  that  the  rate  of  interest  was 
to  be  changed  in  the  year  1700  ?  But  these  details 
are  added  for  the  sake  of  accuracy,  and  constitute 
the  circumstantial  character  of  the  narrative.  They 
fill  their  appropriate  place  as  a  part  of  the  whole 
account  of  the  bill,  as  the  whole  account  of  the  bill 
fills  in  its  turn  its  own  appropriate  place  in  the 
order  of  the  history.  The  details  are  therefore  to 
be  judged  not  as  single  and  isolated  statements, 
but  as  parts  of  the  whole. 

Just  thus  it  is  with  the  Scriptures.  The  ethno- 
logical lists,  for  instance,  in  Genesis,  constitute  a 
very  important  part  of  the  narrative.  There  is  a 
manifest  object  in  roughly  tracing  out  the  divisions 
of  mankind  in  a  record  where  the  unity  of  the  hu- 
man race  and  its  descent  from  a  single  pair  stands 
not  only  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  as  the  foundation 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.      81 

fact  of  moral  and  religious  truths  of  the  highest 
importance.  The  lists  contained  in  Numbers  and 
Chronicles  were  of  value  to  the  Jews  in  relation 
alike  to  their  lands  of  inheritance  and  to  the  descent 
of  the  expected  Messiah.  Their  presence  gives 
circumstantial  reality  to  the  narrative,  and  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  evidences  of  its  genuineness  and 
credibility.  They  are  closely  connected  with  the 
genealogical  lists  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke. 
The  purpose  of  these  latter  lists  in  linking  together 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  histories,  and  placing 
upon  the  head  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  the  crown  of 
the  predicted  Messiah,  lies  upon  the  very  surface  of 
the  narrative.  But  had  they  been  preceded  by  no 
information  of  a  kindred  kind  in  the  earlier  Scrip- 
tures, they  would  have  been  comparatively  useless. 
There  would  have  been  no  means  of  testing  their 
accuracy,  in  the  absence  of  any  corresponding- 
sources  of  information.  The  tribal  character  incor- 
porated into  Jewish  life  and  habits  appears  every- 
where in  the  historical  and  prophetical  books  of 
the  Old  Testament;  recurs  in  the  doctrinal  argu- 
ments of  the  New,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews ;  and  still  colors  the  habits  and  insti- 
tutions of  the  historical  Jew.  Consequently,  had 
these  earlier  lists  been  absent,  broken  links  would 
have  met  us  everywhere,  and  the  practical  and  life- 
like characteristics  of  the  sacred  writings  would 
have  been  absent. 

We  are  justified,  therefore,  in  saying  that  these 
lists  constitute  a  connected  part  of  God's  intelligent 
design  in  the  framework  of  his  revelation.      But  to 


82  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

endeavor  to  trace  a  design  linking  every  detail  to 
the  comprehensive  plan  of  the  whole  would  be  ab- 
surd. It  would  be  absurd,  for  instance,  to  attempt 
to  trace  the  importance  to  the  plan  of  salvation  of 
the  detailed  fact  that  Joktan  had  thirteen  sons,  and 
that  their  "dwelling  was  from  Mesha,  as  thou  goest 
unto  Sephar,"  Gen.  10:30;  or  that  Gamaliel  was 
the  captain  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  as  recorded  in 
Numb.  1 :  10 ;  or  that  Shamed,  the  son  of  Elpaal, 
built  Ono  and  Lod,  as  recorded  in  1  Chron.  8  :  12. 
It  is  enough  that  they  constitute  parts  of  genealogi- 
cal lists,  that  these  lists  form  part  of  their  respec- 
tive books,  and  that  the  respective  books  in  their 
turn  form  consistent  parts  of  the  whole  revelation. 
But  if  it  would  be  absurd  to  carry  the  proof  any 
farther  than  this,  it  is  at  least  equally  absurd  to 
rest  objections  against  the  unity  of  Scripture  on  our 
inability  to  do  so.  To  pick  out  a  detail  such  as 
those  mentioned  above,  and  then  triumphantly  to 
ask  whether  we  consider  this  to  be  an  instance  of 
Divine  inspiration,  is  about  the  same  as  to  ask 
whether  we  consider  Lord  Macaulay  to  be  a  great 
writer  of  history,  because  he  records  the  fact  that 
the  memorable  law  of  1692  passed  its  third  reading 
on  the  twentieth  day  of  January.  Each  part  must 
be  considered  in  relation  to  its  whole.  The  genea- 
logical lists  of  Scripture,  for  instance,  form  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  respective  books  where  they  are 
found,  and  these  respective  books  form  an  integral 
part  of  the  whole  record.  We  can  trace  intelligent 
design  in  the  entire  record,  in  its  component  books, 
and  in  the  genealogical  information  they  contain; 


IT  INCLUDES  THE   WHOLE  BIBLE.      83 

and  this  is  enough.  So  close  a  connection  suggests 
a  strong  presumption  that  the  mind  which  schemed 
and  framed  the  whole,  schemed  and  framed  the 
parts.  The  conclusion  appears  irresistible,  that 
they  all  enter  into  the  unity  of  design  pervading 
the  sacred  books.  Whatever  proof  of  authority  this 
unity  of  design  may  be  admitted  to  carry  with  it,  is 
coextensive  with  itself.  If  the  design  is  everywhere, 
the  authority  involved  in  it  must  be  everywhere 
likewise. 

III.  A  third  reason  for  accepting  the  authority 
of  Scripture  as  a  Divine  revelation  rests  upon  the 
sublimity  of  its  subject-matter  and  the  superhuman 
truths  it  reveals.  It  may  be  admitted  by  us,  with- 
out the  slightest  hesitation  or  reluctance,  that  these 
truths  are  found  side  by  side  with  matter  of  a  very 
different  kind,  and  with  details  of  an  apparently 
trivial  description.  Many  persons  devoutly  accept 
the  Divine  inspiration  of  the  one  class  of  passages, 
but  cannot  accept  it  in  regard  to  the  other.  For 
instance,  they  admit  that  the  sublime  description  of 
the  creation,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  bears 
upon  it  the  stamp  of  Divine  authority ;  but  for  the 
genealogical  lists  contained  in  the  same  book  they 
can  only  admit  a  human  origin.  The  most  impor- 
tant sources  of  this  difficulty  must  be  left  for  a  while, 
till  the  positive  objections  urged  upon  this  ground 
to  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  doctrine  of  ver- 
bal inspiration  come  to  be  considered.  For  the 
present,  some  general  considerations  only  must  be 
adduced  in  support  of  the  assumption,  that  what- 
ever authority  attaches  to  one  part  of  Scripture 


84  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

attaches  to  all.  It  will  suffice  to  show,  in  the  pres- 
ent stage  of  the  investigation,  that  the  difference  in 
the  subject-matter  of  Scriptures  constitutes  no  prima 
facie  objection  against  the  equable  inspiration  of 
the  whole. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  recognize  the  inti- 
mate relation  subsisting  between  the  doctrinal  and 
the  historical  portions  of  the  word.  The  doctrinal 
are  admitted  to  be  above  human  discovery  in  the 
nature  of  the  truths  revealed,  and  sublime  above 
human  conception  in  the  character  of  God,  and  in 
the  hopes  proposed  to  man.  But  then  these  doc- 
trines are  founded,  without  exception,  upon  histori- 
cal facts.  For  instance,  the  doctrine  of  the  person 
of  Christ  depends  upon  the  combination  of  the  hu- 
man and  Divine  natures  in  him.  The  Divine  na- 
ture involves  the  eternal  generation  and  the  self- 
existing  glory  of  the  Son  of  God.  The  human 
nature  depends  upon  the  incarnation ;  and  the  in- 
carnation involves  the  human  mother,  and  the  hu- 
man home,  and  the  human  relationships,  and  the 
human  life,  with  all  its  true  ordinary  sympathies 
and  affections.  The  doctrine  of  the  atonement  de- 
pends upon  the  sinless  holiness  of  our  Lord's  nature, 
and  upon  the  free  and  undeserved  character  of  his 
sufferings  and  death.  Again,  his  sufferings  and 
death  involve  the  human  agents,  motives,  passions, 
and  acts.  The  same  connection  of  the  supernatural 
and  the  Divine  with  the  human  nature  and  the  hu- 
man sphere  of  action  pervades,  more  or  less,  the 
entire  system  of  doctrine.  To  take  the  one  element 
away  is  to  take  them  both  away.     The  historical 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.     85 

facts  are  therefore  interwoven  inextricably  with  the 
doctrinal  truths.  Our  knowledge  of  the  one  is  de- 
pendent upon  our  knowledge  of  the  other.  If  the 
doctrines  are  dependent  upon  the  historical  facts, 
and  we  are  not  sure  that  the  historical  facts  are 
true,  neither  can  we  be  sure  that  the  doctrines  are 
true.  The  nature  of  the  Christian  revelation  and 
of  the  doctrines  revealed  necessitates  an  earthly 
platform  and  earthly  associations.  Hence  the  mi- 
nute facts  of  the  life  and  sufferings  of  our  Lord  do 
not  pull  down  to  their  level  the  associated  doctrines 
of  the  incarnation  and  atonement,  but  the  doctrines 
lift  up  the  facts  to  their  own  height.  The  same  re- 
mark is  true  of  the  whole  series  of  facts  recorded  in 
Scripture.  However  minute  and  unimportant,  they 
share  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  wonderful 
events  ancT  sublime  doctrines  of  which  they  form 
the  necessary  conditions. 

Similar  is  the  relation  existing  between  the  bio- 
graphical and  the  purely  historical  portions  of  the 
record.  The  accumulated  biographies  of  the  living- 
men  of  every  age  would  constitute  the  history  of 
that  age,  the  sole  difference  of  biography  being  that 
the  events  are  traced  primarily  in  reference  to  the 
character  and  fortunes  of  the  individual,  and  only 
secondarily  in  reference  to  bodies  of  mankind.  The 
biographies  of  Scripture  have,  indeed,  a  twofold 
character,  and  both  are  maintained  with  an  admira- 
ble and  undeviating  consistency.  On  the  one  side, 
the  private  history  of  the  individual  is  invariably 
presented  in  its  relation  to  the  whole  revelation  of 
the  Divine  purposes,  and  as  a  link  in  their  com- 


86  GOD'S  WOED  WRITTEN. 

pleteness.  On  the  other  side,  the  private  lesson  is 
itself  full  of  religious  instruction  :  it  is  at  once  the 
illustration  of  some  doctrinal  truth,  and  an  example 
of  its  practical  application.  Had  all  the  Scriptural 
biographies  been  absent,  the  whole  record  would 
have  lost  its  external  reality,  and  being  deprived  of 
its  foothold  in  the  common  sympathies  and  circum: 
stances  of  mankind,  would  have  floated  off  into  the 
dreamy  cloudland  of  abstract  speculation. 

Lastly,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  relation  of  the 
great  to  the  small.  The  great  is  indeed,  in  human 
affairs,  the  accumulation  of  the  small.  We  speak 
of  God  as  flie  moral  Governor  of  the  universe,  and 
the  conception  of  the  great  universe  he  governs 
helps  us  to  form  some  faint  conception  of  the  great- 
ness and  glory  of  the  Governor.  But  what  is  the 
universe,  but  the  aggregation  of  innumerable  par- 
ticulars in  one  complete  and  harmonious  system? 
This  is  the  case  with  all  things  known  to  us,  saving 
God  himself.  The  self-existent  Source  is  distin- 
guishable from  all  else  in  being  "without  body, 
parts,  or  passions." 

Not  only  does  the  great  consist  of  the  aggrega- 
tion of  the  little,  but  through  the  long  series  of 
causes  and  effects  pervading  all  life  the  great  is  de- 
pendent on  the  little.  The  most  trivial  events  are 
very  often  the  beginnings  of  the  mightiest  results. 
The  dependence  of  the  great  upon  the  small  is, 
therefore,  the  invariable  condition  of  all  human 
things ;  and  if  the  connection  had  been  absent  in 
Scripture,  the  absence  would  only  have  served  to 
isolate  the  revelation  of  God's  will  from  all  God's 


IT  INCLUDES  THE  WHOLE  BIBLE.       87 

other  acts,  alike  in  creation  and  in  providence.  We 
should  then  have  failed  to  see,  as  we  do  now,  the 
infinitely  little  as  well  as  the  infinitely  great  of 
God's  acts;  and  losing  sight  of  the  minute  superin- 
tendence of  the  world,  we  should  equally  have  fail- 
ed to  estimate  the  omnipotence  of  God,  and  to 
comprehend  his  omniscience  and  omnipresence. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  argument  for  the  Di- 
vine authority  of  Scripture  from  the  grandeur  and 
sublimity  of  its  contents  is  not  weakened  by  the 
fact  that  all  its  contents  are  not  equally  grand  and 
sublime,  or  by  the  association  of  the  great  in  God 
with  the  little  in  man.  To  argue  that  because  the 
subject-matter  of  different  portions  of  the  word  dif- 
fers in  importance  it  therefore  differs  in  inspiration, 
is  to  confound  the  subject  of  the  message  with  the 
author  of  the  message.  All  the  parts  of  Scripture 
are  equally  true  and  equally  inspired,  just  as  the 
insect  is  as  much  the  creature  of  God  as  the  star; 
but  they  are  no  more  equally  important  than  the 
insect  and  the  star — the  insect  that  perishes  un- 
known, and  the  star  whose  destruction  would  dis- 
turb the  complicated  and  delicately-balanced  organ- 
ism of  the  universe. 

Hence  on  all  three  lines  of  argument — the  in- 
spired character  of  the  writers,  the  unity  of  design  / 
pervading  the  writings,  and  the  sublimity  of  their  / 
subject-matter — the  presumption  holds  good  that! 
the  authority  due  to  one  part  of  Scripture  is  due  \ 
equally  to  all,  because  the  reasons  for  it  are  equally 
applicable  to   all.     To   divide  the  Bible  into  two 
parts  constantly  intermingled  and  intersecting  one 


88  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

another,  and  to  say  that  the  one  part  is  divinely  in- 
spired and  not  the  other,  is  to  lower  the  character 
of  the  whole  Bible.  We  might  retain,  it  is  true,  the 
full  authority  of  the  parts  admitted  to  be  Divine  in 
one  sense,  but  we  do  not  retain  equally  the  author- 
ity of  the  whole,  because  the  whole  contains  both 
the  parts  supposed  to  be  inspired  and  the  parts 
supposed  to  be  uninspired.  The  parts  supposed  to 
be  marked  with  Divine  infallibility,  and  the  parts 
supposed  to  be  marked  by  human  fallibility,  are  in- 
cluded in  the  same  revelation.  Hence  the  charac- 
ter of  the  whole  must  be  lowered,  and  the  security 
for  the  truth  damaged,  by  the  rejection  of  any  of 
its  parts.  The  parts  and  the  whole  composed  of 
them  must  correspond.  "Whatever  authority  over 
human  belief  is  claimed  and  assigned  to  one  portion 
of  Scripture,  is  equally  claimed  and  must  be  equally 
assigned  to  all.  If  the  Scriptures  are  the  word  of 
God,  it  follows  that  the  whole  Scriptures  are  the 
word  of  God. 


IT  BEARS  WITNESS  TO  ITSELF.         89 


CHAPTEK   V. 

DOES  SCRIPTURE   BEAR  WITNESS  TO  ITSELF  ; 
AND   HOW  ? 

Does  the  Bible  assert  its  own  Authority  and  Infallibility  ? — Various 
Answers  to  this  Question — Cause  of  the  Misapprehension — -Ar- 
bitrary Nature  of  the  Proof  demanded — Reasons  why  Reiter- 
ated Assertion  of  its  Inspired  Character  should  not  be  expect- 
ed—  The  True  Proofs  of  Credibility — How  afforded  by  the 
Inspired  Writers  to  their  Contemporaries,  and  by  their  Wri- 
tings to  Ourselves  —  The  Clear  Inferences  of  Scripture  as 
Authoritative  as  its  Direct  Assertions. 

It  lias  been  shown,  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
that  whatever  claims  of  authority  are  asserted  for 
one  part  of  Scripture,  are  really  asserted  for  the 
whole.  This  conclusion  rests  on  the  identity  of  in- 
spired authorship  pervading  the  entire  body  of 
Scripture,  the  structural  unity  connecting  the  whole, 
and  running  undiminished  through  all  the  variations 
of  its  subject-matter,  and  the  essential  dependence 
of  its  great  facts  and  sublime  doctrines  on  minute 
details,  historical,  biographical,  and  genealogical. 
The  express  claim  advanced  in  one  specific  portion 
is  not  confined  to  that  individual  portion,  but  ex- 
tends to  the  whole  of  which  it  forms  a  component 
part.  In  ordinary  matters,  the  principle  is  accept- 
ed without  dispute.  The  mind  and  authority,  and 
therefore  the  responsibility,  of  the  architect  extend 
to  every  part  of  the  building ;  that  of  the  artist,  to 
every  part  of  the  painting  or  the  sculpture ;  of  the 


DO  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

mechanician,  to  every  part  of  the  machine;  of  the 
author,  to  every  part  of  the  book.  The  possible 
employment  of  subordinate  agents  upon  the  coarser 
portions  or  on  separate  parts  of  the  whole  in  no 
degree  affects  this  responsibility,  since  the  author- 
ity of  the  higher  and  controlling  agent  takes  up  into 
itself  the  action  of  the  lower  and  subordinate.  In 
the  same  way,  if  the  Scriptures  be  a  revelation  from 
God,  the  authority,  whatever  it  may  be,  attached  to 
a  Divine  revelation  extends  to  all  its  parts,  and  in- 
cludes all  the  subordinate  agencies  employed  in  its 
communication. 

We  are  now,  therefore,  prepared  to  ask  to  what^ 
C  this  authority  amounts.     What  is  the  character  of 
\   the  Bible?  what  influence  must  be  allowed  to  it 
upon  the  belief  and  conduct  of  mankind? 

r  These  questions  cannot  be  determined  by  the- 
ory, but  must  be  settled  by  an  appeal  to  Scripture 
itself,  and  a  careful  examination  alike  of  its  facts 
and  of  its  principles.  All  parties  to  the  controversy 
agree  in  this.  The  variations  of  conclusion  arise 
only  from  the  adoption  of  different  modes  of  con- 
ducting the  inquiry.  For  instance,  the  rationalist 
considers  that  when  he  has  proved  the  variety  of 
books  contained  in  Scripture — the  diversity  of  their 
dates,  authorship,  and  subject-matter  —  and  has 
shown  the  probability  that  particular  books  contain 
older  documents  incorporated  into  themselves — that 
he  has  disproved  the  existence  of  a  Divine  inspira- 
tion. He  forgets  that  there  are  two  sides  to  the 
question,  and  that  both  must  be  taken  into  account. 
Arbitrarily  affixing   the   charge  of  narrowness  of 


IT  BEARS  WITNESS  TO  ITSELF.         91 

thought  to  all  dogmatic  assertion  of  scriptural  au- 
thority, lie  limits  his  own  view  to  one  class  of  Bib- 
lical phenomena,  and  to  one  alone.  Thus  he  loses 
sight  of  the  fact,  that  if  diversity  be  a  characteris- 
tic of  Scripture  in  one  point  of  view,  unity  is  no  less 
a  characteristic  of  it  in  another.  His  process  of 
breaking  up  the  Scripture  into  fragments  only 
strengthens  the  argument  for  the  inspiration  of 
Scripture.  His  disintegrating  process  leaves  the 
unity  just  where  it  was  before,  and  renders  it  the 
more  wonderful  in  proportion  to  the  variety  of  de- 
tails comprehended  and  over-ordered  by  the  one 
superintending  Mind. 

The  rule  of  discarding  all  theory  upon  what  we 
think  Scripture  ought  to  be,  and  confining  ourselves 
to  an  inquiry  as  to  what  Scripture  really  is,  cannot 
be  too  rigidly  maintained.  To  take  facts  as  they 
are,  and  not  as  they  might  conceivably  have  been, 
is  a  rule  never  to  be  forgotten.  On  this  specific 
ground  we  have  been  led  to  the  conclusions  of  the 
previous  chapters.  It  has  been  shown  that  Chris- 
tianity is  inseparably  identified  with  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures,  that  these  Scriptures  contain  a 
revelation  from  God,  and  that  they  are  invested 
throughout  with  an  equality  of  authority  co-exten- 
sive with  the  identity  of  authorship  and  unity  of 
structure. 

In  settling  the  amount  of  this  authority,  we 
must  neither  go  beyond,  nor  must  we  fall  short  of, 
what  Scripture  claims  for  itself.  But  we  must  take 
care  that  the  appeal  is  not  made  in  a  false  and  one- 
sided manner.    AVe  must  not  establish  any  arbitrary 


92  GOD'S  ^YOPvD  WRITTEN. 

standard  of  our  own,  and  say  that  Scripture  ought 
to  assert  its  own  authority  in  one  way,  and  in  one 
way  only,  and  that  if  the  assertion  be  not  made  in 
this  one  way,  we  will  not  accept  it  in  any  other. 
The  nature  of  the  assertion  and  the  mode  of  making- 
it  belong  to  the  Giver  of  the  revelation,  and  our 
duty  is  simply  to  examine  the  facts.  Whether  the 
mode  of  assertion  may  be  agreeable  to  our  views  or 
not  is  a  mere  matter  of  theory,  and  of  no  impor- 
tance. "What  does  Scripture  assert?  is  the  one 
practical  and  all-important  question. 

The  objection  has  been  often  made,  and  reiter- 
ated even  to  weariness,  that  the  Scriptures  contain 
no  assertion  of  their  own  infallibility.  How  con- 
trarv  the  objection  is  to  the  facts  of  the  case  will 
appear  shortly.  Meanwhile  the  meaning  of  the 
objection  must  be  considered,  and  the  fallacy  in- 
volved in  the  arbitrary  demand  of  one  particular 
Imode  of  proof  exposed.  The  objector  means  that 
the  assertion  of  an  infallible  truthfulness  is  not 
made  in  so  many  words.  We  reply  to  him  by 
quoting  passages  in  which  the  assertion  is  plainly 
)  made,  or  by  an  immediate  inference  necessarily 
\  involved.  For  instance,  we  allege  the  words  of 
David,  "Thy  word  is  true  from  the  beginning;" 
"  The  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure;"  "  Thy  law  is 
the  truth."  Or  we  refer  to  the  language  of  St.  Paul, 
where  he  declares  the  Scripture  to  be  profitable  for 
doctrine,  reproof,  correction,  and  instruction;  or  to 
expressions  like  that  of  our  Lord, '"The  Scripture 
cannot  be  broken;"  or  to  the  words  of  St.  John,  in 
the  concluding  book  of  the  canon,  "  These  are  the 


IT  BEARS  WITNESS  OF  ITSELF.         93 

true  sayings  of  God."  Psa.  119:160;  19:7;  119:142; 
2  Tim. "3  :  16  ;  John  10  :  35  ;  Key.  19  : 9. 

But  the  objector  immediately  replies,  that  these 
epithets  are  applied  to  certain  particular  portions 
of  the  Bible,  and  not  to  the  whole  Bible.  For  in- 
stance, the  language  of  John  refers  to  the  declara- 
tion relative  to  the  blessedness  of  the  holy  dead. 
Our  Lord  refers  to  the  Old  Testament  application 
of  the  word  "  gods,"  and  makes  an  appeal  to  men 
familiar  with  Old  Testament  language,  and  treating 
it  with  almost  superstitious  reverence.  In  the  same 
way  St.  Paul  refers  to  the  ancient  Scriptures,  and 
David  to  the  books  of  Moses  only. 

However  confidently  this  rejoinder  may  be  urged, 
the  conclusion  reached  in  the  previous  chapter  re- 
futes it.  We  are  justified  in  extending  the  charac- 
ter claimed  for  one  part  of  the  Bible  to  all  the  other 
parts  issued  under  the  same  sanction,  contained  in 
the  same  plan,  and  united  as  the  greater  and  lesser 
links  in  the  same  chain  of  truth. 

But  the  objection  enables  us  to  appreciate  the 
kind  of  proof  the  objector  demands.  If  no  evidence 
but  immediate  verbal  assertion  is  enough,  and  the 
demand  is  to  be  pushed  to  its  full  limits,  it  would 
be  necessary  that  each  individual  sentence  in  the 
entire  Scriptures  should  be  sealed  with  an  asser- 
tion of  its  infallible  truthfulness,  either  fully  ex- 
pressed or  at  all  events  comprised  in  some  acknowl- 
edged formula,  such  as  the  significant  and  oft-re- 
peated scriptural  phrase,  "  It  is  written."  The 
statement  of  such  a  demand  suffices  to  show  its 
absurdity,  and  yet  nothing  less  could  stop  the  loop- 


94  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

holes  against  possible  scruples.  Or  if  men  were 
not  so  unreasonable  as  to  ask  for  this,  the  objec- 
tion would  at  least  demand  some  such  verbal  and 
reiterated  claim  at  the  beginning  or  the  close,  or 
both,  of  each  individual  book  of  the  canon.  It  is 
therefore  important  to  see  that,  had  such  a  verbal 
claim  existed,  it  would  have  been  absolutely  useless, 
and  would  have  proved  literally  nothing. 

For  such  a  verbal  claim  would  carry  with  it  the 
credibility  due  to  the  writer,  and  no  more.  Where 
the  amount  of  this  credibility  is  the  point  of  dispute, 
as  it  is  between  the  Christian  and  the  skeptic,  it 
could  not  be  taken  into  account.  Familiar  experi- 
ence shows  that  we  do  not  believe  persons  on  their 
assertion  of  their  own  credibility.  We  expect  some 
positive  evidence  of  trustworthiness ;  and  then,  but 
not  till  then,  we  believe  them.  Otherwise  we  may 
make  two  replies,  according  as  we  think  the  speaker 
to  be  deceiving  or  deceived.  We  may  say,  "I  do 
not  believe  your  statement,  for  I  consider  you  to 
be  an  impostor ;"  or  we  may  say,  "  I  do  not  doubt 
}-our  own  honest  belief  in  the  truth  of  your  state- 
ment, yet  I  do  hot  believe  the  statement,  because  I 
consider  you  to  be  deceived,  either  by  your  own 
ignorance  and  fanaticism  or  by  the  duplicity  of  oth- 
ers." In  either  case  the  speaker's  own  assertions, 
if  unsupported  by  evidence,  would  not  carry  with 
them  a  feather's  weight.  Thus,  on  one  or  other  of 
these  grounds,  according  to  individual  opinion,  we 
repudiate  the  self-assertions  of  Mohammed,  of  Jo- 
anna Southcott,  and  of  the  prophet  of  the  Mor- 
mons.    We  disbelieve  them,  not  because  they  f;iil 


IT  BEARS  WITNESS  TO  ITSELT.         95 

to  advance  claims  on  our  belief,  but  because  the 
claims  advanced  are  unsupported  by  evidence. 

The  same  mode  of  arguing  would  have  been 
as  applicable  to  the  sacred  as  to  secular  writers.  If 
they  had  been  fond  of  reiterating  their  own  claims, 
and  had  appended  to  every  book  or  to  every  sen- 
tence of  every  book,  the  affirmation  of  their  own 
infallible  authority,  not  only  would  such  assertions 
have  been  perfectly  ineffectual  to  establish  their 
credibility,  but  they  would  have  been  effectual  to 
throw  doubts  about  it.  The  very  redundancy  of  \ 
claim  would  have  awakened  suspicion.  Why  this  1 
constant  protestation,  it  would  have  been  argued, 
if  there  did  not  exist  some  secret  consciousness  of 
weakness  and  of  the  absence  of  valid  claims  upon 
belief?  Our  Lord  himself  did  not  scruple  to  assert 
the  vanity  of  claims  that  rest  only  on  the  words  of 
the  claimant :  "  If  I  bear  witness  of  myself,  ruy  Avit- 
ness  is  not  true." 

The  assertion,  therefore,  that  the  scriptural  wri- 
ters do  not  assert  their  own  inspiration  or  their  own 
infallibility,  is  only  true  in  this  sense,  that  they  do 
not  make  it  the  subject  of  formal  declarations  to  any 
great  extent.  For  instance,  we  search  in  the  other 
books  in  vain  for  assertions  corresponding  to  the 
language  used  by  St.  John  in  regard  to  his  account 
of  Christ's  death :  "  He  that  saw  it  bare  record,  and 
his  record  is  true :  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith 
true,  that  ye  might  believe ;"  or  to  the  declaration 
appended  to  his  gospel:  "This  is  the  disciple  which 
testifieth  of  these  things,  and  wrote  these  things : 
and  we  know  that  his  testimony  is  true."     1  John 


96  GODS   WORD  WRITTEN. 

19:35;  21:24.  These  passages  stand  alone  in 
Scripture ;  but  we  do  not  expect  a  truthful  man  to 
be  always  parading  his  own  truthfulness.  He  con- 
tents himself  with  the  delivery  of  his  testimony, 
and  falls  back  upon  his  known  character  for  its 
credibility. 

On  this  principle  the  sacred  writers  evidently 
acted  in  their  own  personal  ministry.  They  carried 
their  attestation  with  them  to  the  generation  among 
whom  they  lived.  The  word  written  was  in  the 
first  case  the  word  spoken,  and  the  credentials  of 
the  speaker  consisted  in  his  own  prophetic  office 
and  supernatural  gifts.  Thus  Moses  was  accredited 
to  the  Hebrews  of  his  own  day  by  the  miracles  of 
the  exodus,  and  the  forty  years'  sojourning  in  the 
wilderness.  When  his  commission  from  God  was 
called  into  question,  as  by  Miriam,  and  afterwards 
by  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  direct  appeal  was 
made  to  God  to  show  whom  he  had  chosen,  and 
the  answer  was  given  by  some  outward  and  visible 
miracle.  The  prophetic  office  of  Samuel  was  known 
to  all  Israel,  for  "  the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  did 
let  none  of  his  words  fall  to  the  ground."  The 
commission  of  the  later  prophets  was  attested  by 
their  office  in  general,  and  special  signs  in  particu- 
lar ;  as  by  the  prescient  visions  of  Isaiah,  the  spe- 
cial deliverance  of  Jeremiah,  the  mysterious  call 
of  Ezekiel,  and  the  wise  interpretations  of  Daniel. 
Our  Lord's  ministry  was  accredited  by  the  miracles 
which,  like  flashes  of  the  indwelling  Deity  break- 
ing through  the  veil  of  the  flesh,  proved  Him  to 
be  more  than  man.      "  The  works  that  I  do  they 


IT  BEAES  WITNESS  TO  ITSELF.         97 

bear  witness  of  me."  The  apostolic  company  ex- 
hibited the  same  credentials  :  "  God  bearing  them 
witness  both  with  signs  and  wonders,  and  with 
divers  miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Heb.  2:4.  To  men  thus  divinely  accredited,  the 
verbal  assertion  of  their  right  to  teach  would  have 
been  as  unnecessary  to  those  who  recognized  their 
character  as  it  would  have  been  useless  to  those 
who  denied  it. 

As  the  inspired  prophets  acted  in  their  personal 
ministry,  so  it  is  natural  that  they  should  act  in 
their  writings.  Their  claims  did  not  cease  with 
their  lives,  or  with  the  generation  for  which  they 
wrote.  It  is  perpetuated  by  the  historical  fact  that 
their  books  have  been  received  in  the  canonical 
Scriptures.  This  reception  could  not  have  been 
obtained  unless  the  inspired  authority  of  the  books 
had  been  the  subject  of  contemporary  belief,  and 
this  belief  can  only  have  been  founded  on  the  cre- 
dentials attached  to  the  living  men.  It  could  not 
have  been  founded  on  their  own  assertion ;  for,  as 
our  opponents  object,  the  formal  and  reiterated 
assertion  is  not  found  in  their  written  words,  and 
therefore  may  be  concluded  to  have  been  absent 
from  their  spoken  words.  It  must  have  been  found- 
ed on  their  personal  office  and  character,  because 
this  was  the  only  kind  of  proof  available,  and  to  it 
the  writers  themselves  consistently  appeal.  What- 
ever authority  was  due  to  the  spoken  teaching  of  i 
the  living  men  is  therefore  perpetuated  in  the  writ- 
ten teaching  of  the  dead  men.  The  personal  his- 
tory and  the  official  authority  rest  on  the  same  his- 


98  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

torical  evidence,  and  are  sealed  by  the  unbroken 
descent  of  their  writings  and  their  continuous  posi- 
tion among  the  canonical  Scriptures  down  to  the 
present  day. 

That  this  is  the  true  account  of  the  matter,  is 
evidenced  by  the  exceptional  circumstances  distin- 
guishing those  books  of  the  New  Testament  which 
were  for  a  time  called  into  question.  These  are 
enumerated  by  the  ecclesiastical  historian  Eusebius 
as  being  the  Epistle  of  James,  the  second  Epistle 
of  Peter,  the  second  and  third  Epistles  of  John,  and 
the  Epistle  of  Jude.  At  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century  the  persecution  of  the  emperor  Diocletian 
against  the  church,  and  his  determined  effort  to 
destroy  the  Christian  Scriptures,  led  to  a  very 
searching  examination  of  the  books  belonging  to 
the  canon.  On  the  close  of  the  persecution,  those 
who  had  given  up  their  books  to  be  destroyed  were 
called  "traditores,"  and  were  excluded  from  the 
church.  Hence  it  became  a  matter  of  great  im- 
portance to  decide  what  were  and  what  were  not 
inspired  books.  It  was  evidently  the  interest  of 
persons  compromised  by  such  a  denial  of  their 
Christian  profession,  and  actuated  more  by  consid- 
erations of  personal  safety  than  by  the  sense  of 
religious  duty,  to  limit  to  the  utmost  the  number  of 
books,  the  betrayal  of  which  constituted  a  traditor, 
and  Avas  punished  by  exclusion  from  the  church. 
The  epistles  above  enumerated  were  found,  on 
examination,  not  to  be  universally  received  as 
authoritative.  But  even  this  exception  was  but  of 
short  duration,  for  in  the  middle  of  the  same  cen- 


IT  BEARS  WITNESS  TO  ITSELF.         99 

tury  the  whole  of  our  present  books  were  enumer- 
ated by  Atlianasius  as  belonging  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment canon.  The  large  number  of  spurious  books 
rejected,  proves  the  severity  of  the  inquiry.  The 
fact  that  it  issued  in  affirming  the  inspired  charac- 
ter of  all  the  books  now  received  without  exception, 
supplies  an  historical  testimony  of  the  highest  value 
to  their  genuineness,  authenticity,  and  credibility. 

The  authority  of  Scripture,  therefore,  as  a  reve- 
lation from  God,  does  not  rest  upon  its  self-asser- 
tion, but  on  independent  credentials  inherent  in  the 
character  and  office  of  the  writers.  The  indirect 
assertion  of  such  an  authority  pervades,  however, 
as  I  shall  proceed  to  show,  the  whole  language  of 
Scripture,  and  is  ingrained  into  its  very  structure. 
What  is  true  in  regard  to  the  general  authority  of 
Scripture,  is  specially  true  in  regard  to  its  inspira- 
tion and  infallibility.  They  all  rest  on  the  same 
foundation,  aud  must  stand  or  fall  together.  If  the 
only  sufficient  proof  consists  in  formal  and  reiter- 
ated assertion,  then  we  must  give  up  not  only  the 
plenary  inspiration,  but  the  authority  of  Scripture 
altogether,  for  no  such  formal  and  reiterated  asser- 
tion exists.  The  fact  that  such  assertions  would 
have  been  worthless,  had  they  existed,  proves  the 
absurdity  of  setting  up  any  capricious  standard. 
We  must  accept  whatever  evidence  is  available, 
although  it  should  not  be  direct,  but  indirect ;  not 
formal,  but  inferential;  not  couched  in  the  shape 
of  distinct  propositions,  but  involved  in  its  moral 
claims,  its  subject-matter,  and  its  professed  defects. 
The  conclusions  so  reached,  if  founded  on  a  solid 


100  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

chain  of  reasoning,  are  as  much  founded  on  facts, 
and  not  on  theory,  as  they  would  be  if  every  chapter 
and  verse  of  Scripture  contained  the  assertion  of  its 
own  authority.  They  are  founded  on  fact,  because 
they  rest  on  the  statement  of  Scripture  itself,  and 
not  on  any  human  conjecture  formed  beforehand 
relative  to  what  Scripture  should  be  or  should  not 
be.  Those  who  deny  the  authority  of  the  Bible 
altogether  as  a  Divine  revelation,  will  consistently 
reject  its  assertions  regarding  itself,  as  they  reject 
its  assertions  upon  other  matters;  but  those  who 

1  accept  it  as  a  Divine  revelation,  and  believe  its 
teaching  on  other  matters,  must  equally  believe  its 
teaching  relative  to  itself.     It  cannot  alter  the  case 

*  in  the  slightest  degree,  whether  the  teaching  is  im- 
plied or  expressed.  The  necessary  inference  carries 
the  same  weight  as  the  formal  assertion. 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  101 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   TESTIMONY   OF   SCKIPTURE   TO  ITS  OWN 
CHAEACTEE. 

Testimonies  of  Scripture  to  its  own  Character  classified  —  I.  A 
Revelation  from  God  as  well  as  of  God — II.  Accredited  with 
his  Formal  Authority — III.  Given  for  the  Purpose  of  Reli- 
gious  Instruction,  and  Sufficient  for  the  Purpose  intended — 
IV.  Provided  to  supply  the  Defects  of  Natural  Light  and 
Conscience — V.  True  alike  in  its  Eecorded  Facts  and  in  its 
Revealed  Doctrines,  and  claiming  to  be  implicitly  believed — 
VI.  Unbelief  in  them  declared  to  be  a  Sin,  and  deserving  the 
Punishment  of  Sin. 

The  testimony  of  Scripture  borne  to  its  own 
character  is  exceedingly  copious  and  varied.  Hav- 
ing shaken  off  the  trammels  imposed  upon  inquiry 
by  the  supposed  necessity  of  direct  and  reiterated 
self-assertion,  we  enter  upon  a  sphere  of  evidence 
so  wide,  that  the  only  difficulty  is  to  embrace  the 
whole  in  one  consistent  view.  For  this  purpose  it 
is  necessary  to  classify  the  statements  of  the  sacred 
writers  relative  to  the  authority  of  their  owTn  books. 
They  may  be  resolved  into  six  propositions  haying 
immediate  bearing  on  the  question  of  inspiration. 

I.  The  Scriptures  are  a  revelation  from  God. 
The  entire  mission  of  Moses  to  the  Hebrew  people 
was  performed  under  this  commission :  "  Thus  shalt 
thou  say  unto  the  people  of  Israel :  '  I  Am '  hath 
sent  me  unto  you."  Exod.  3  :  14.  The  book  of  the 
Law,  believed  by  those  who  accept  the  Diviue  au- 


102  GOD'S  WOttD  WRITTEN. 

thority  of  tlie  Pentateuch  to  be  identical  with  the 
five  books  of  Moses,  was  written  by  the  express 
commandment  of  God.  Exod.  24  :  4-7.  We  are 
taught  that  the  lawgiver  perpetuated  in  this  written 
form  not  only  doctrines  and  laws,  but  likewise  his- 
torical facts.  Exod.  17  :  14.  The  mantle  of  Moses 
descended  upon  Joshua.  He  was  "  full  of  the  spirit 
of  wisdom,  for  Moses  had  laid  his  hands  on  him." 
The  book  called  by  his  name  opens  with  the  asser- 
tion of  this  Divine  commission :  "  The  Lord  spake 
unto  Joshua."  His  last  solemn  charge  to  the  peo- 
ple before  his  death  was  prefaced  with  the  words, 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel."  The  histori- 
cal books  contain  no  such  positive  affirmations; 
indeed,  their  form  does  not  admit  of  them.  Their 
contents  describe  God's  direct  dealings — the  imme- 
diate interferences  of  his  wisdom  and  power  in  the 
fortunes  of  his  people.  These  books,  from  Judges 
to  Nehemiah,  are  a  narrative  of  facts.  To  their 
accuracy  we  have  the  direct  testimony  of  David 
and  Samuel.  The  seventy-eighth  and  one  hundred 
and  sixth  Psalms  are  founded  upon  their  narratives. 
But  we  have  yet  more  specific  testimony.  St.  Paul 
quotes  the  language  of  the  Book  of  Kings  as  "the 
Scripture."  1  Kings  19:14;  Bom.  11:3.  A  pas- 
sage from  the  Second  Book  of  Samuel,  7 :  14,  is 
adduced  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  as  God's  words  towards  his  Son :  "  I  will 
be  to  him  a  Father,  and  he  shall  be  to  me  a  Son." 
Heb.  1 :  5.  Of  Samuel  himself  we  are  told,  "  The 
Lord  revealed  himself  to  Samuel  in  Shiloh  by  the 
word  of  the  Lord."     David  refers  his  own  language 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  103 

to  the  express  authority  of  God  :  "  The  Lord  said." 
"  The  wisdom  of  God  was"  in  Solomon.  The  books 
of  the  prophets  are  composed  almost  entirely  of 
direct  messages  from  heaven.  Isaiah  refers  his 
commission  to  an  immediate  vision  of  the  Almighty. 
"  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Jeremiah  the  proph- 
et," and  to  "Ezekiel  the  priest."  "A  vision  ap- 
peared" unto  Daniel,  and  an  archangel  was  sent  to 
interpret  it.  Hosea,  Joel,  Jonah,  Micah,  Zepha- 
niah,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  -Malachi,  claim  to  be 
divinely  employed ;  in  the  striking  phrase  of  Jere- 
miah and  Ezekiel,  "  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to 
them."  Amos  and  Obadiah  open  their  prophecies 
with  the  solemn  phrase,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 
To  Nahum  "the  Lord  gave  commandment,"  and  on 
Habakkuk  laid  the  charge,  "  Write  the  vision,  and 
make  it  plain." 

If  these  testimonies  appear  to  be  in  any  degree 
defective,  the  language  of  our  Lord  and  his  apos- 
tles supply  the  void.  Thus  our  Lord  quotes  from 
four  out  of  the  five  books  of  Moses,  from  David, 
Isaiah,  Malachi,  arid  Zechariah,  with  the  formula 
"It  is  written."  St.  Paul  quotes  in  the  same  way 
from  the  other  book  of  Moses  not  quoted  by  our 
Lord,  from  David,  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah.  "The 
Prophets,"  as  a  well-known  division  of  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  are  referred  to  as  authoritative  on  mat- 
ters of  faith.  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews states  that  "God  spake  by  the  fathers;"  and 
St.  Peter,  with  a  special  reference  to  unfulfilled 
prophec}-,  that  "holy  men  of  old  wrote  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 


1(M  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

This  is  the  attestation  of  our  Lord  aud  his  apos- 
tles to  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures; but  what  of  their  own  authority?  Our  Lord 
himself,  in  his  prayer  to  his  Father,  declares  of  his 
teaching  in  general,  "  I  have  given  unto  them  the 
words  which  thou  gayest  me,"  John  17:8.  So  far, 
then,  as  the  gospels  contain  the  actual  teaching  of 
our  Master,  they  are  affirmed  to  be  the  words  of 
God.  Not  only  so,  but  the  same  authority  is 
ascribed  to  the  books  in  general  containing  these 
words.  Our  Lord's  statement  contains  a  threefold 
chain,  in  which  each  link  in  the  descent  is  equally 
strong,  from  the  Father  to  himself,  from  himself  to 
his  apostles,  therefore  from  the  Father  to  his  apos- 
tles through  him.  Accordingly,  a  special  promise 
of  the  presence  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given  to 
them :  "  It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  Mark  13  :  11.  Or  if  these  words  appear  to 
be  limited  to  definite  occasions,  we  do  but  turn  to 
the  broader  promises ;  such  as,  "  The  Holy  Ghost, 
whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall 
teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  }~our 
remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  In 
the  fulfilment  of  this  promise,  St.  James  did  not  scru- 
ple to  declare,  at  the  first  council  at  Jerusalem,  "It 
seemeth  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us."  In  a 
similar  spirit,  St.  Paul,  over  and  over  again,  refer- 
ring the  gospel  he  preached  to  an  immediate  reve- 
lation, identifies  his  own  words  with  the  words  of 
the  Holy  Ghost :  "  Which  words  we  speak,  not  in 
the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which 
the   Holy  Ghost  teacheth."     In    another   striking 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  105 

passage  St.  Peter  first  asserts  the  inspiration  of  the 
Spirit  for  the  ancient  prophets,  "  Searching  what  or 
what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was 
in  them  did  signify,  when  it  testified  beforehand  the 
sufferings  cf  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  fol- 
low." Then,  in  the  words  following,  he  asserts  the 
the  same  Divine  influence  for  himself  and  his  fel- 
low-apostles :  "  Unto  whom  it  was  revealed,  that 
not  unto  themselves,  but  unto  us,  they  did  minister 
the  things  which  are  now  reported  unto  you  by  them 
which  have  preached  the  gospel  unto  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven,"  1  Pet.  1 :  11, 
12.  Finally,  St.  John  declares  the  book  of  his  proph- 
ecy to  be  "  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  which  God 
gave  unto  him." 

Thus,  in  various  forms,  the  contents  of  the  Scrip- 
ture are  declared  to  be  a  communication  from  God. 
They  are  a  revelation  not  only  of  God,  but  from 
God,  in  the  truest  and  closest  sense — in  which  the 
authority  of  a  message  depends  not  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  messenger,  but  upon  the  character  of 
him  by  whom  he  is  commissioned. 

II.  The  Scriptures  assert  themselves  to  be  ac- 
credited with  the  authority  of  God,  as  of  a  higher 
power  claiming  by  right  acceptance  and  obedience. 
It  is  conceivable  that  a  superior  authority  may  deal 
with  an  inferior  in  the  way  of  condescension  as  a 
friend  with  a  friend,  giving  advice,  but  neither  claim- 
ing nor  exercising  control.  It  is  the  characteristic 
of  Scripture,  that  it  not  only  conies  from  one  in- 
vested with  an  authority  so  absolute  that  no  human 
relation  can  furnish  a  parallel,  but  that  it  is  itself 


106  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

invested  with  this  authority.  It  is  formally  enuncia- 
ted, as  a  proclamation  from  a  King,  who  as  Creator 
has  a  right  to  command  creatures  who,  by  virtue  of 
their  dependence,  are  under  obligation  to  obey. 
Thus  the  books  of  Moses  were  issued  as  containing 
the  will  of  an  autocratic  Lawgiver.  The  Scriptures 
laid  up  in  the  ark  by  the  order  of  Moses  were  "  the 
book  of  the  Law."  Its  details  of  enactments  are 
designated  in  the  New  Testament  "  the  lawr  of  the 
Lord."  Ten  out  of  sixteen  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophets  use  the  same  word  "law"  with  reference 
to  their  own  special  communications.  The  terms 
"statutes"  and  "ordinances"  carry  the  same  force  of 
an  obligatory  revelation,  and  are  nearly  coextensive 
in  their  use  with  the  word  "law."  Thus  David,  speak- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  extant  in  his  day  as  the  word  of 
God,  declares,  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  an  undenled 
law  ....  the  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right."  To 
the  legislative  power  of  the  Lawgiver  is  added  the 
administrative  power  of  the  King.  The  very  words 
"  the  commandments"  express  alike  the  form  of  au- 
thority maintained  in  the  language,  and  the  sanc- 
tion of  authority  given  to  the  enactments.  Our 
blessed  Master,  by  his  own  repeated  use  of  the  word, 
placed  the  seal  of  his  own  witness  to  this  character 
of  revelation.  Our  Lord  asserted  it  as  strongly  for 
his  own  teaching  as  he  attributed  it  to  the  teaching 
of  the  fathers,  "  He  that  hath  1113-  commands  and 
keepeth  them,"  John  14 :  21 ;  nor  did  this  authority 
cease  with  his  personal  ministry,  but  by  virtue  of 
his  commission  extended  to  the  ministry  of  his  apos- 
tles.    "  The  things  that  I  write  unto  you,"  declares 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO   ITSELF.  107 

St.  Paul,  "  are  the  commandments  of  the  Lord." 
"  The  commandment  of  us,  the  apostles  of  the 
Lord,"  is  the  language  of  St.  Peter.  The  apostle 
of  love  reechoes  the  language,  "  This  is  his  com- 
mandment;" and  towards  the  close  of  the  apocalyp- 
tic vision  he  seals  up  the  record  with  the  words  of 
Christ  in  his  glory,  "  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his 
commandments." 

III.  The  Scriptures  affirm  themselves  to  have 
been  given  in  the  specific  character  of  a  revelation, 
and  for  the  specific  purpose  of  communicating  a 
knowledge  of  salvation.  Of  the  Old  Testament  wri- 
tings in  general  St.  Paul  affirms  that  they  are  prof- 
itable for  "instruction  in  righteousness,  that  the 
man  of  God  may  be  perfect,"  and  that  they  are  able 
to  make  "  wise  unto  salvation."  In  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  he  declares  that  the  narratives  of 
the  Mosaic  books  "  were  written  for  our  instruc- 
tion ;"  and  more  generally  still  he  teaches  the  Pio- 
nian  Christians  that  "  whatsoever  things  were  writ- 
ten aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning."  That 
the  word  "whatsoever"  is  coextensive  with  the  an- 
cient sacred  writings,  and  neither  exceeds  nor  falls 
short  of  them,  is  proved  by  his  applying  to  them 
the  recognized  and  generic  name,  "the  Scriptures;" 
for  the  passage  continues,  "  that  we  through  pa- 
tience and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures."  Our  Lord 
declared,  "He  that  believeth  my  word  hath  ever- 
lasting life."  The  commission  to  his  apostles  was 
to  "go  and  teach,"  and  the  object  of  the  teaching 
is  defined  in  the  baptismal  formula  to  be  belief  in 
the   Father,  Son,  and   Holy  Ghost.     The  official 


108  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

titles  of  the  apostles  bear  the  same  meaning;  they 
are  termed  "  messengers,"  "  evangelists,"  "  teachers," 
"prophets."  Of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  at 
large,  first  by  the  prophets  and  subsequently  by 
the  apostles,  St.  Paul  affirms  that  it  was  "according 
to  the  commandment  of  the  everlasting  God  made 
known  to  all  nations  for  the  obedience  of  faith." 

Two  remarks  must  be  interposed  at  this  place. 
1.  It  is  admitted  that  whatever  God  does  he  does 
perfectly;  that  is,  not  perfectly  according  to  any 
arbitrary  standard  of  our  own,  but  perfectly  accord- 
ing to  the  designs  of  his  own  will.  What  God  de- 
signs to  do  lies  beyond  the  competenc}'  of  our  judg- 
ment, and  can  only  be  revealed  by  himself.  The 
texts  quoted  above  supply  the  information.  The 
object  is  to  make  "wise  unto  salvation."  Hence 
we  must  believe  that  in  giving  information  for  this 
purpose  he  has  given  information  sufficient  for  the 
purpose.  The  assistance  bestowed  upon  every  cho- 
sen agent  of  God  is  specifically  related  to  the  work 
to  be  done,  and  adjusted  alike  in  kind  and  in'  quan- 
tity to  that  work.  When  God  inspired  Bezaleel 
and  Aholiab  "with  the  Spirit  of  God  in  wisdom, 
and  in  understanding,  and  in  knowledge,"  that  in- 
spiration had  special  reference  to  the  workmanship 
of  the  tabernacle,  to  "make  all  that  I  have  com- 
manded thee."  For  the  purpose  intended  it  was 
sufficient.  "Bezaleel  .  .  .  made  all  that  the  Lord 
commanded  Moses."  But  it  was  not  an  unlimited 
inspiration ;  it  was  not,  for  instance,  an  inspiration 
to  teach,  but  only  to  make.  When  "the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  came  mightily  upon  Samson,"  it  was  an 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  109 

inspiration  for  a  specific  purpose,  as  in  the  case  of 
Bezaleel,  but  the  purpose  was  different.  It  was  de- 
clared by  the  angel  to  be  that  he  should  "deliver 
Israel  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines."  It  was 
adapted  for  this  purpose,  and  was  sufficient  for  it. 
"Thou  hast  given  great  deliverance  into  the  hands 
of  thy  servant,"  was  the  language  of  Samson  him- 
self. But  this  inspiration  did  not  give  skill  in  work- 
manship, as  it  gave  to  Bezaleel,  but  astonishing 
strength  of  body.  It  included  exactly  what  was 
necessary  for  the  work,  but  no  more.  In  the  same 
way,  when  "holy  men  of  old  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  the  inspiration  was 
specific  to  the  work  to  be  done.  This  work  was  to 
teach,  and  to  the  work  of  teaching  their  inspiration 
had  strict  reference.  It  neither  gave  skill  in  work- 
manship as  to  Bezaleel,  nor  strength  of  body  as  to 
Samson;  but  he  gave  them  what  the  work  requir- 
ed, "a  mouth  and  wisdom."  This  the  apostle  re- 
peatedly affirmed.  "We  speak  wisdom,"  "we  speak 
the  wisdom  of  God,"  God  "abounded  towards  us 
in  all  wisdom  and  prudence,  having  made  known 
unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will."  As  the  skill  of 
Bezaleel  was  sufficient  for  the  workmanship  of  the 
tabernacle,  and  the  strength  of  Samson  was  suffi- 
cient for  the  deliverance  of  Israel,  so  the  knowledge 
and  wisdom  bestowed  upon  the  sacred  writers  were 
sufficient  to  make  them  "teachers  of  the  Gentiles  in 
faith  and  verity." 

2.  The  Scriptures  are  the  only  provision  assert- 
ed to  have  been  made  by  God  for  the  purpose  of 
making  men  wise  unto  salvation.    This  character  is 


110  GOD'S  WOHD  WKITTEN. 

never  affirmed  of  our  Lord's  person,  or  said  to  have 
formed  the  purpose  and  design  of  his  incarnation, 
suffering,  and  death.  He  was  not  himself  a  revela- 
tion of  God,  given  for  the  specific  purpose  of  teach- 
ing, as  the  Scriptures  are. 

Doubtless  he  did  himself  teach,  and  is  the 
Prophet  as  well  as  the  Priest  and  King  of  his 
church.  Thus,  in  the  synagogue  of  Nazareth,  he 
applied  to  himself  the  language  of  Isaiah:  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath 
anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel;"  and  we  know 
that  he  fulfilled  the  prediction,  for  "  all  bare  him 
witness,  and  wondered  at  the  gracious  words  that 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth."  We  are  repeatedly 
told  that  he  went  about  "preaching  the  gospel;" 
he  was  "the  Word"  of  God,  and  all  our  knowledge 
is  derived  from  the  "Light  of  the  world."  The  en- 
tire ministry  of  the  church  is  derived  from  his  au- 
thority. His  ministers  are  "ministers  of  Christ," 
"messengers  of  Christ."  "God  hath  in  these  last 
days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son."  And  that  this 
message  is  identical  with  the  gospel  preached  by 
the  apostles,  we  are  expressly  told  in  the  context  of 
the  same  passage.  The  great  salvation  "began  to 
be  spoken  by  the  Lord,  and  was  confirmed  unto  us 
by  them  that  heard  him."  In  the  same  spirit  St. 
Luke  describes  his  gospel  as  being  a  record  "of  all 
that  Jesus  began  both  to  do  and  teach  until  the 
day  in  which  he  was  taken  up."  The  whole  of  his 
personal  teaching  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  pro- 
phetic office  perpetuated  in  the  living  church. 

But  this  teaching  of  our  Lord  is  so  far  from 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  Ill 

standing  in  contrast  with  the  Scripture,  that  it  is 
contained  in  this  inspired  record,  and  is  absolutely 
unknown  to  us  from  any  other  source.  It  is  an  in- 
tegral portion  of  the  sacred  record,  and  to  us  has 
no  existence  apart  from  it. 

When  therefore  the  assertion  is  made  that  the 
Scriptures  are  the  only  provision  made  for  teach- 
ing the  church,  the  verbal  teaching  of  our  blessed 
Lord  is  included,  not  excluded.  But  our  Lord, 
apart  from  his  teaching,  was  not  in  himself  and  in 
his  life  a  revelation  in  the  same  sense  as  the  Scrip- 
tures are.  We  are  told  indeed  that  we  see  the' 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ;  but 
it  is  in  Jesus  Christ  as  personated  in  the  writ- 
ten word,  "We  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord.  For  God  hath  shined  in  our 
hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  T>f  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  2  Cor. 
4:6.  Our  Lord  himself  was  the  object  of  the  gos- 
pel, its  subject,  its  end,  its  everlasting  theme ;  but 
he  was  not  himself  the  revelation  of  the  gospel,  nor, 
apart  from  the  spoken  or  written  word,  is  he  ever 
so  presented.  His  office,  as  prophetically  described, 
was  to  do  the  Father's  will,  so  he  himself  declared : 
"I  came  from  heaven  not  to  do  mine  own  will, 
but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me."  "I  have  fin- 
ished the  work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do,"  was 
the  language  of  his  prayer  to  the  Father.  What 
was  this  work  his  own  words  express  :  "The  Son 
of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost;"  and 
still  more  specifically,  "The  Son  of  man  is  come  to 
give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."     Thus  he  is  ever 


112  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

presented  in  the  apostolic  writings  as  "  the  Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  The 
whole  presentation  of  his  person,  work,  and  offices, 
is  hereby  summed  up  in  the  language  of  St.  John  : 
"We  have  seen  and  do  testify  that  the  Father  sent 
the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world."  1  John 
4:14. 

IV.  The  Scriptures  affirm  themselves  to  have  been 
given  to  supplement  the  light  of  nature,  and  to  sup- 
ply that  knowledge  of  God  which  neither  the  witness 
of  the  outward  creation  nor  the  teaching  of  inward 
conscience  was  competent  to  give.  Thus  the  lan- 
guage of  Moses,  reechoed  by  St.  Paul,  states  the  pos- 
session of  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  grand  and  eleva- 
ting distinction  of  the  Jews,  making  them  illustrious 
over  the  rest  of  mankind  "  as  a  wise  and  understand- 
ing people."  The  benighted  ignorance  and  moral 
corruption  of  the  Gentiles  are  described  in  the  most 
vivid  language.  The  prophet  depicts  the  heathen  as 
sitting  "  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death."  The 
psalmist  declares  them  to  be  ignorant  of  the  "  judg- 
ments "  of  God.  Psa.  10 :  20 ;  147 :  20.  St.  Paul  des- 
ignates them  as  "  having  the  understanding  dark- 
ened, being  alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through 
the  ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  blind- 
ness of  their  heart."  Again,  he  exhorts  the  Thes- 
salonians  not  to  live  "  in  the  lust  of  concupiscence, 
as  the  Gentiles  which  know  not  God."  Our  Lord, 
by  his  description  of  his  own  office,  throws  into 
contrast  the  hopeless  condition  of  mankind  without 
him :  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world ;  he  that  follow- 
eth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  113 

the  light  of  life."  John  8  :  12.  The  song  of  Zach- 
arias  declares  it  to  have  been  the  object  of  the  mercy 
of  God  "  to  give  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness 
and  in  the  shadow  of  death."  St.  Paul,  at  Athens, 
vividly  describes  the  best  condition  of  the  Gentiles 
as  that  of  men  who  "  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him  and  find  him,"  and  then  places 
the  past  and  the  present  in  sharp  contrast :  "  The 
times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at,  but  now 
commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent."  Acts 
17  :  30.  The  entire  argument  of  the  first  chapter  of 
the  epistle  to  the  Romans  turns  upon  this.  The 
apostle  expresses  his  readiness  to  preach  the  gospel 
both  to  the  Greeks  and  to  the  barbarians ;  and  he 
proceeds  to  give  his  reason,  as  if  anticipating  the 
modern  rationalism  which  considers  Christianity  to 
have  nothing  to  give  to  the  heathen.  He  declares 
that  the  light  of  nature  was  in  itself  sufiicient  to 
teach  the  primary  truths  of  the  eternal  power  and 
Godhead  of  the  Creator,  but  that,  nevertheless,  the 
guilty  ignorance  of  man  was  incapable  of  learning- 
even  this  lesson,  and  was  without  excuse ;  "  they 
became  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  fool- 
ish heart  was  darkened." 

God's  word  was  therefore  given,  because  God's 
works  were  insufficient.  Hence  the  formal  revela- 
tion made  in  Scripture  must  be  clearly  distinguished 
from  the  revelation  given  in  nature.  In  a  secondary 
and  figurative  sense,  we  say  that  outward  nature 
witnesses  of  God,  because  to  a  thinking  mind  it 
points  upward  to  its  great  Architect:  "The  heav- 
ens declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament 


114  GOD'S  WOED  WRITTEN. 

showeth  his  handiwork."  But  it  is  a  book  the  les- 
sons of  which  depend  upon  men's  intellectual  and 
moral  capabilities  of  learning  ;  and  Scripture  itself 
declares  them  to  be  insufficient.  To  argue,  there- 
fore, that  because  mistakes  and  errors  are  made  by 
man  in  his  interpretation  of  God's  book  of  nature, 
therefore  God  may  be  expected  to  have  left  fallible 
elements  in  his  own  book  of  revelation,  is  to  con- 
found two  things  between  which  God  himself  has 
drawn  the  separation.  Doubtless  God's  works  are 
as  perfect  as  God's  word ;  the  error  is  not  in  the 
book,  but  in  the  interpreter.  But  it  is  because  man 
has  failed  to  understand  the  book  of  nature  that 
God  has  given  him  the  book  of  revelation.  The 
primary  object  of  nature  cannot  be  properly  said  to 
be  teaching ;  but  God  has  given  revelation  for  this 
specific  purpose  of  teaching,  and  has  therefore 
made  the  teaching  as  complete  as  was  consistent 
with  his  own  ordained  permission  of  man's  moral 
action.  The  elements  of  error  still  remain,  but  in 
the  interpreter,  not  in  the  book.  Even  in  regard  to 
the  interpreter,  God  has  reduced  them  to  the  lowest 
degree  consistent  with  his  declared  purpose  of  hu- 
man probation. 

V.  The  Scriptures  affirm  absolute  credence  to 
be  due  to  their  contents,  by  virtue  alike  of  the  God 
from  whom  they  come  and  of  the  evidence  by  which 
they  are  authenticated.  Thus  both  elements  are 
combined  in  the  witness  God  gave  to  Moses  when 
he  came  down  to  him  "in  a  thick  cloud"  upon  Sinai : 
"  That  the  people  may  hear  when  I  speak  with  thee, 
and  may  believe  thee  for  ever."     The  words  of  Je- 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  115 

hoshaphat,  addressed  to  the  people  during  their 
solemn  act  of  devotion  in  the  wilderness  of  Tekoa, 
asserted  the  same  claim :  "  Believe  in  the  Lord 
your  God,  so  shall  ye  be  established ;  believe  his 
prophets,  so  shall  ye  prosper."  Our  Lord  rebuked 
the  want  of  faith  in  the  two  disciples  at  Emmaus  : 
"  O  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  the 
prophets  have  spoken."  The  unbelief  of  the  Jews 
was  the  frequent  subject  of  denunciation.  "  If  ye 
believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me,  for  he 
wrote  of  me  ;  but  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how 
shall  ye  believe  my  words  ?"  St.  John  twice  states 
the  object  of  his  gospel  to  be,  "  that  ye  might  be- 
lieve." St.  Paul  declares  that  "the  god  of  this 
world  hath  blinded  the  eyes  of  them  that  believe 
not."  And  the  angel  in  the  Apocalypse,  rejecting 
the  proffered  worship  of  the  apostle,  declared  him- 
self to  be  a  member  of  the  church  of  God,  under 
the  striking  epithet  of  "  them  that  keep  the  sayings 
of  this  book." 

It  is  in  strict  accordance  with  this  that  the  apos- 
tolic writers  appeal  to  the  Old  Testament  as  author- 
itative upon  all  questions  of  faith  :  "  What  saith  the 
Scripture  ?"  This  appeal  is  made,  not  only  to  dec- 
larations of  doctrine,  but  to  narratives  of  facts. 
Thus  our  Lord  refers  to  the  order  of  the  creation, 
to  the  events  of  the  forty  years'  wanderings,  and  to 
the  story  of  David.  St.  Peter  refers  in  the  same 
way  to  the  history  of  the  creation  and  of  the  deluge ; 
while  St.  Paul  appeals  so  copiously  to  the  facts  of 
the  Old  Testament  history  as  to  render  detailed  ref- 
erences unnecessary. 


116  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

VI.  The  Scriptures  assert  their  own  claim  to  a 
believing  acceptance  to  be  so  authoritative  that  the 
absence  of  it  is  a  sin,  and  will  be  punished  as  a  sin 
at  the  last  day.  Thus  our  Lord  asserts  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament  to  be  the  result  of  such 
a  hardness  of  heart  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of 
hope  :  "  If  they  believe  not  Moses  and  the  proph- 
ets, neither  will  they  believe  though  one  rose  from 
the  dead."  In  regard  to  his  own  teaching,  he  im- 
putes the  unbelief  of  the  Jews  to  their  sinful  love  of 
the  world  :  "  He  that  rejecteth  me  and  my  words 
hath  one  that  judgeth  him.  The  word  that  I  have 
spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day." 
St.  Peter  finds  in  their  contempt  of  the  Scripture, 
and  their  wilful  disbelief  of  God's  creation  of  the 
world  and  its  subsequent  destruction  by  the  deluge, 
the  characteristic  of  the  scoffers  of  the  last  daj'S. 
He  first  urges  the  authority  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  Scriptures.  Of  the  Old,  "Be  mindful 
of  the  words  that  were  spoken  before  by  the  holy 
prophets;"  of  the  New,  "  And  of  the  commandment 
of  us,  the  apostles  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour."  In 
this  immediate  relation,  he  predicts  the  rise  of 
"scoffers  walking  after  their  own  lusts,  and  saying, 
"Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming?"  Then  he 
traces  their  sin  to  disbelief  of  the  Scriptures:  "This 
they  willingly  are  ignorant  of,  that  by  the  word  of 
God  the  heavens  were  of  old."  In  the  close  of  the 
same  chapter,  he  puts  his  seal  alike  to  the  canon- 
icity  of  the  Pauline  epistles  and  to  the  authority  of 
the  entire  word :  "  Which  they  that  are  unlearned 
and  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the  other  Scrip- 


ITS  TESTIMONY  TO  ITSELF.  117 

tores,  unto  their  own  destruction."  What  destruc- 
tion is  intended,  majr  be  gathered  from  the  language 
of  St.  Paul :  "  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed 
from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire 
taking  vengeance  on  them  that  ....  obey  not  the 
gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  who  shall  be  pun- 
ished with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord." 

These  assertions  might  be  variously  stated,  and   ) 
largely  increased  in  number ;  but  the  texts  quoted  \ 
suffice  to  show  how  freely  Scripture  speaks  of  itself,   \ 
and  asserts  its  own  authoritative  character.    It  does     } 
not  deal,  indeed,  with  direct  and  reiterated  asser- 
tions of  its  Divine  origin  and  authority,  because 
such  assertions  would  have  been  equally  incongru-  -\ 
ous  and  useless.     But  in  a  large  variety  of  forms,  / 
and  in  a  great  many  direct  passages,  it  assumes  to  S 
itself  the  qualities,  and  makes  upon  others  the  de-   I 
mands,  which  belong  to  a  Divine  origin  and  author-    \ 
ity,  but  would  be  utterly  out  of  place  in  writings 
owning  an  exclusively  human  authorship,  or  tainted 
with  a  human  fallibility.     Instances  of  these  direct 
assertions  have  now  been  given.     It  remains  to  put 
them  all  together,  and  to  see  what  conclusion  is 
necessarily  involved  in  their  accumulated  and  con- 
sentient testimony. 


118  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  SCRIPTURES  ARE  THE  TRUE  WORD  OF 
GOD. 

Force  and  Meaning  of  these  Claims— The  Bible  neither  a  Specula- 
tion, nor  a  Fiction,  nor  a  Blunder,  nor  a  Fraud — Assertion  of 
Scripture  of  its  own  Absolute  Veracity— This  Veracity  not  Lim- 
ited, but  Universal— The  Theory  that  the  Bible  is  partly  True, 
partly  Untrue,  measured  by  these  Claims — The  Scriptures  not 
only  Truly  the  Word  of  God,  but  the  True  Word  of  God. 

It  has  been  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that 
the  testimony  of  Scripture  in  regard  to  itself  may 
be  reduced  into  six  varying,  but  consistent  asser- 
tions. These  assertions  must  be  recapitulated  in 
order  that,  bearing  them  distinctly  in  mind,  we  may 
the  more  fully  appreciate  their  force  and  combine 
their  consentient  testimonj'.  These  passages  are 
independent  of  the  direct  and  formal  affirmations 
of  positive  truthfulness  appended  to  some  portions 
of  the  word.  They  supply  the  data  for  further  con- 
clusions ;  and  these  conclusions,  if  they  can  be  shown 
to  be  necessary,  will  have  the  same  authority  as 
their  data  ;  that  is,  they  will  be  matters  of  revealed 
fact,  not  of  human  theory. 

The  first  assertion  in  the  natural  order  of  the 
argument  is,  that  the  Scriptures  constitute  an  imme- 
diate communication  from  God  to  man.  (2.)  They 
are  invested  with  the  supremacy  of  their  Divine 
Author — not  speculative   propositions    for    discus- 


THE  TRUE  WORD   OF  GOD.  119 

sion,  but  royal  ordinances  for  acceptance  and  obe- 
dience. (3.)  They  are  not  simple  statements,  but 
communications  immediately  addressed  to  man, 
with  the  specific  object  of  teaching  him  the  truths 
necessary  for  salvation.  (4.)  They  have  avowedly 
been  given  to  supplement  such  sources  of  informa- 
tion as  were  independently  available  from  the  light 
of  conscience  and  the  outward  works  of  creation; 
because,  in  the  estimate  of  God,  his  fallen  creatures 
were  incompetent  to  gather  from  them  what  they 
needed  to  know.  (5.)  They  claim  to  be  believed  as 
"  faithful  sayings,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation," 
not  only  in  those  parts  which  deal  with  the  sublime 
mysteries  of  God  and  of  his  will,  but  in  those  parts 
also  which  recall  earthly  transactions  and  human 
conduct.  (6.)  They  are  so  authenticated  as  to  leave 
unbelief  without  excuse,  and  to  constitute  it  a  sin 
for  which  God  will  call  men  into  judgment,  and 
which  he  will  punish  when  the  dead  "  shall  come 
forth,  they  that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation."  It  has  been  shown 
that  each  of  these  six  assertions  is  made  of  the 
entire  series  of  the  Scriptures :  they  sweep  the 
whole  course  of  revelation,  from  its  beginning  in 
the  books  of  Moses  to  its  conclusion  in  the  vision  of 
St.  John. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  any  claims  more  sol- 
emn, any  sanctions  more  tremendous,  than  these 
assertions  involve.  Their  grandeur  and  dignity, 
when  placed  in  contrast  with  the  more  familiar  ob- 
jects of  human  life,  would  almost  startle  the  mind 


120  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

into  incredulity,  if  the  testimony  authenticating 
them  were  less  ample  and  cogent.  We  are  almost 
inclined  to  ask,  "Can  all  this  be  true?"  Yet  they 
are  as  harmonious  alike  with  God  and  with  our- 
selves as  any  thing  can  be  conceived  to  be.  If 
there  be  a  personal  God,  what  more  natural  and 
what  more  blessed  than  the  possession  of  his  re- 
vealed will  ?  The  Most  High  has  not  vacated  his 
throne  of  government,  nor  dropped  out  of  his  mighty 
hands  the  reins  of  active  power.  The  Lord  is  in 
his  holy  temple,  and  these  Scriptures  are  the  utter- 
ances of  his  will.  The  dignity  of  the  monarch  who 
speaks  in  them,  the  sublimity  of  their  subject-mat- 
ter, the  breadth  of  universal  man  included  in  their 
application,  the  tremendous  interests  of  heaven  and 
hell  involved  in  them,  the  responsibility  resting  upon 
man  if  they  are  true,  and  the  hopeless  darkness 
brooding  over  him  if  they  are  not  true,  invest  them 
with  an  awfulness  almost  oppressive,  and  an  impor- 
tance without  a  parallel  in  all  the  other  spheres  of 
human  life  and  action. 

Whether  they  are  true  or  not  in  our  judgment 
does  not  constitute  the  immediate  subject  of  in- 
quiry. The  present  question  relates  to  the  charac- 
ter given  by  the  revealed  word  to  itself.  It  has 
been  shown  to  assume  certain  characteristics,  and 
the  question  is,  what  quality  or  qualities  are  neces- 
sarily involved  in  their  assertion.  It  may  all  be 
summed  up  in  one  word ;  and  this  word  expresses 
the  whole  gist  and  substance  of  the  controversy 
relative  to  the  Christian  Scriptures.  This  word  is 
their  truth.     They  assert  themselves  to  be  not  only 


THE  TKUE  WORD  OF  GOD.  121 

truly  the  word  of  God,  but  the  true  word  of  God — 
the  word  of  God,  and  therefore  true. 

Into  the  exact  nature  of  truth  and  truthfulness 
it  will  be  necessary  to  look  more  closely  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter.  For  the  present,  it  is  enough  to  fall 
back  on  the  common  acceptation  of  it.  It  is  one  of 
those  words  which  it  is  alike  easy  to  understand 
and  difficult  to  define.  Our  trust,  credence,  confi- 
dence, assurance,  rest  on  truth;  it  is  the  pillar 
which  bears  up  the  entire  fabric  of  human  hope, 
and  round  which  is  clustered  every  form  of  human 
action. 

Truth  is  asserted  in  contrast  with  unreality. 
The  imagination  may  conjure  up  many  an  idle  form 
floating  in  the  cloudland  of  the  fancy,  but  having 
no  foothold  on  the  actually  existing  things  of  life. 
Delirium  and  madness  people  the  world  with  shapes 
which  have  no  being  save  in  the  disordered  brain. 
The  dream  presents  to  the  eye  and  mind  of  the 
sleeper  scenes,  and  acts,  and  persons,  which  actually 
affect  the  feelings  for  the  time,  but  which/when  the 
sleeper  awakes  and  resumes  the  mastery  of  his 
mental  and  moral  self,  are  found  to  have  gone,  and 
to  have  no  reality  save  in  the  sensations  excited  by 
them.  The  inspired  type  of  vanity  is  "as  a  dream 
when  one  awaketh."  "A  hungry  man  dreameth, 
and  behold  he  eateth;  but  he  awaketh,  and  his  soul 
is  empty  :  a  thirsty  man  dreameth,  and  behold  he 
drinketh;  but  he  awaketh,  and  behold  he  is  faint.*' 
But  truth  abides  independently  of  all  subjective 
sensations.  It  is  truth  still,  when  it  is  forgotten  as 
when  it  is  remembered ;  when  it  is  denied  as  when 

GofVfi   Word.  (! 


122  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

it  is  believed;  when  it  is  accepted  as  when  it  is  re- 
jected. The  dream  was,  indeed,  used  by  God  as  a 
means  of  communication  with  his  prophets;  but 
the  reality  and  perpetuity  of  his  own  words  are 
expressly  contrasted  with  the  idle  fancies  of  hea- 
then dreamers.  "Hearken  not  to  dreamers,"  was 
warning  of  Jeremiah ;  and  Jude,  warning  the  church 
against  the  foes  of  "the  faith  once  delivered  unto  the 
saints,"  designates  them  "  these  filthy  dreamers." 

Truth  is  asserted  in  contrast  to  fiction.  Works 
of  imagination,  as  they  are  called,  do  not  profess  to 
be  the  narratives  of  actual  events  accomplished  un- 
der the  conditions  of  time,  place,  person,  and  con- 
nection in  which  the  fiction  presents  them,  but  only 
to  have  that  kind  of  verisimilitude  about  them 
which  enables  them  to  touch  the  feelings  and  awa- 
ken the  sympathies.  They  are  the  unreal  reflection 
of  real  things ;  they  do  not  appeal-  to  belief,  or 
claim  the  acceptance  and  authority  of  history.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  the  Bible,  or  at  least  por- 
tions of  it,  such  as  the  Pentateuch,  are  onl}T  a  work 
of  fiction,  a  kind  of  religious  romance.  A  very 
strange  and  wild  suggestion  it  is;  since  the  Bible, 
instead  of  reflecting,  as  all  fiction  does,  a  real  world 
outside,  has  revealed  a  new  real  world  of  its  own, 
and  a  consentient  body  of  such  grand  truth,  that 
our  highest  human  knowledge  only  consists  of  scat- 
tered rays  from  this  sun.  When  we  assert  the  Bi- 
ble to  be  true,  we  assert  the  contradictory  of  this. 
It  is  not  a  fiction — not  even  a  fiction  composed  by 
God  himself,  like  some  of  the  parables  of  our  Lord ; 
but  it  is  the  actual  record  of  real  things  existing 


THE  TRUE  WORD   OF  GOD.  123 

either  in  the  heavenly  or  in  the  earthly  sphere. 
Thus,  by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah,  God  repeatedly  as- 
serts his  own  supremacy  from  this  argument,  that 
he  had  shown  to  his  people  "the  former  things" 
before  "they  came  to  pass,"  and  that  he  would 
show  them  "things  to  come."  Thus,  St.  John  de- 
clares, "The  things  that  we  have  seen  and  heard 
declare  we  unto  you."  And  St.  Peter  expressly  re- 
pudiates this  suspicion  of  a  fiction:  "We  have  not 
followed  cunningly  devised  fables." 

Truth  is  asserted  in  contrast  to  errors  and  mis- 
takes. These  may  occur  in  any  statement  consis- 
tently with  the  honest  intention  of  a  narrator,  but 
they  prove  imperfect  information  and  inaccuracy  of 
statement ;  they  are  wholly  inconsistent  with  Divine 
attributes,  and  constitute  the  distinctive  proof  of 
human  fallibility.  It  has  been  already  shown  to  be 
the  declared  object  of  Scripture  to  correct  the  mis- 
takes into  which  man  had  fallen  regarding  God. 
St.  Luke  declares  his  own  purpose  in  writing  his 
gospel  to  be,  that  Theophilus  might  know  "  the  cer- 
tainty "  of  the  things  in  which  he  had  been  in- 
structed ;  and  the  ground  of  the  assurance  was,  that 
the  writer  himself  had  "  a  perfect  understanding  of 
all  things." 

Truth  is  asserted  in  contrast  with  fraud.  Fraud 
is  the  deception  practised  by  wilfully  representing 
circumstances  to  be  different  from  what  they  really 
are.  It  involves  a  design  to  deceive.  Such  an  ac- 
cusation was  actually  brought  against  our  Master 
by  the  Jews  of  his  day  :  "  We  remember  that  this 
deceiver  said."     On  the  other  hand,  the  Spirit  pro- 


124  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

phetically  vindicated  Christ's  perfect  truthfulness : 
"  Neither  was  there  any  deceit  in  his  mouth."  The 
prophetic  witness  is  reechoed  in  the  apostolic  de- 
scription :  "  Who  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found 
in  his  mouth."  St.  Paul  presents  the  charge 
brought  by  the  world  and  its  contradiction,  side  by 
side,  in  a  brief  and  startling  paradox  when  he  de- 
scribes himself  and  his  fellow-apostles  as  "  deceiv- 
ers and  yet  true."  The  charge  of  intentional  de- 
ceit brought  in  former  days  against  Christ  and  his 
apostles  has  been  abandoned  by  modern  skeptics 
as  plainly  untenable.  The  question  yet  remaining 
concerns  not  themselves,  but  their  words.  Could 
the  authors  be  honest,  and  yet  intentional  fraud  be 
charged  upon  their  words  ? 

Truth  involves,  therefore,  the  reality  of  the 
things  recorded,  the  earnestness  and  gravity  of  the 
narration,  the  absence  of  intentional  errors,  and  the 
freedom  from  intentional  fraud.  If  any  one  of  these 
things 'can  be  proved  to  exist  in  any  book,  the  book 
cannot  be  true.  In  saying  that  the  six  characters 
claimed  by  Scripture  for  itself  involve  the  assertion 
of  truth,  we  say  that  Scripture  is  neither  a  specula- 
tion nor  a  fiction  ;  that  it  is  as  free  from  error  in  its 
details  as  it  is  above  the  possible  suspicion  of  im- 
posture in  the  motives  of  its  authors.  There  is  no 
third  quality  between  truth  and  untruth  ;  the  proof 
of  the  one  involves  the  exclusion  of  the  other.  If 
the  Scriptures  be  true,  there  must  be  absent  from 
them  any  element  of  unreality,  or  fiction,  or  igno- 
rance, or  fraud.  If  they  are  untrue,  they  must  be 
tainted*  either  with  unreality,  or  ignorance,  or  fie- 


THE  TRUE  WORD   OF  GOD.  125 

tion,  or  fraud.  Are  either  of  these  qualities  con- 
sistent with  the  assertions  of  Scripture  relative  to 
itself?     I  answer  unhesitatingly  in  the  negative. 

Can  we  conceive  that  a  revelation  from  God 
should  be  tainted  either  by  ignorance  or  fraud? 
Can  God  either  be  supposed  to  make  mistakes,  or 
to  represent  things  in  aspects  inconsistent  with 
external  reality?  On  this  question,  infidelity,  at  all 
events,  gives  a  most  decided  negative.  It  replies, 
that  the  first  attributes  conceived  to  belong  to  a 
perfect  Being  are  truth  and  truthfulness;  the  one 
being  the  knowledge  of  things  as  they  are,  the  other 
the  statement  to  others  of  things  as  they  are.  It 
argues  that  there  are  certain  statements  in  the  Bible 
which  are  proved  not  to  be  true;  therefore  it  con- 
cludes that  the  Bible  cannot  be  a  communication 
from  God.  The  second  or  minor  premise  in  this 
argument,  namely,  that  the  Bible  contains  things 
provecrvto  be  untrue,  is  equally  rash,  hasty,  and 
devoid  of  proof.  But,  supposing  the  charge  to  have 
been  just,  the  conclusion  that  the  Bible,  containing 
mistakes,  cannot  be  the  word  of  God,  appears  to  me 
to  be  unanswerable.  Any  other  conclusion  shocks 
the  natural  instincts  of  reverence,  and  imputes  to 
the  Divine  Being  the  very  defects  and  imperfections 
which  the  Scriptures  indignantly  repudiate.  A 
Christian  can  scarcely  entertain  a  lower  conception 
of  the  attributes  of  God  than  a  skeptic.  One  who 
studies  his  character  as  dispkxyed  in  the  sufferings 
and  death  of  his  atoning  Son,  can  scarcely  frame 
lower  conceptions  of  him  than  one  who  knows  him 
only  from  the  witness  of  external  nature. 


126  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Let  the  possibility  be  tested  by  an  earthly  illus- 
tration. Let  us  conceive  the  case  of  a  message 
sent  from  one  human  being  to  another  on  a  subject 
of  the  highest  conceivable  importance,  and  touch- 
ing the  mutual  honor  of  both  parties.  The  message 
is  a  written  one,  for  this  is  the  analogous  case.  That 
the  inspiration  was  first  seated  in  the  men,  does  not 
at  all  affect  the  fact  that  it  is  now  incorporated  in 
the  writings,  "the  Scripture  is  God-inspired."  Such 
a  written  message  from  man  to  man  might  undoubt- 
edly contain  mistakes;  but  what  would  be  their 
origin?  There  are  only  three  alternatives — igno- 
rance, carelessness,  or  untruthfulness. 

Ignorance  is  plainly  inconceivable  in  God,  be- 
cause he  filleth  all  in  all.  His  creative  care  is  over 
all  his  creatures,  and  does  not  overlook  a  single  one 
of  the  countless  myriads  of  living  things  which  peo- 
ple the  earth  and  the  air  and  the  seas.  But  can 
carelessness  be  predicated  of  God  ?  We  can  under- 
stand that  a  human  creature  may  intrust  a  message 
to  another,  and  may  either  fail  to  superintend  its 
correct  transmission,  because  his  own  attention  is 
otherwise  engaged,  or  superintending  it,  may  fail  to 
notice  some  wrong  word  or  some  inaccurate  expres- 
sion. But  God  is  as  wise  as  he  is  omnipresent, 
and  his  Divine  activit}^  is  as  infinite  as  his  good- 
ness. It  would  be  blasphemy  to  ascribe  to  him 
either  lassitude  of  mind  or  defects  of  attention. 
But  Ave  can  no  more  conceive  that  God  can  be 
untruthful,  than  we  can  conceive  that  he  can  be 
ignorant  or  careless.  That  he  would  sa}-  what  is 
untrue,  directly  or  indirectly,  or  would  in  any  way 


THE  TRUE  WOED  OF  GOD.  127 

be  a  party  in  inducing  his  creatures  to  believe  what 
is  false,  is  directly  contradictory  to  the  character  of 
"the  only  true  God."  "Yea,  let  God  be  true,  and 
every  man  a  liar;"  "just  and  true  are  thy  ways, 
thou  King  of  saints."  It  is,  therefore,  incredible 
that  any  communication  sent  by  God  can  be  untrue. 
But  every  successive  step  of  the  argument  makes 
the  incredibility  still  more  incredible.  The  Scrip- 
tures are  the  formal  proclamation  of  a  King  to  his 
subjects,  claiming  obedience  by  virtue  of  their  alle- 
giance, and  on  pain  of  his  displeasure.  What  should 
we  think  of  an  earthly  monarch  who  should  pledge 
his  royal  word  for  some  ingenious  fiction,  and  give 
the  weight  of  his  royal  authority  to  a  romance? 
The  Bible  professes  to  contain  the  sovereign  will  of 
the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  It  is  direct- 
ed, indeed,  to  mankind,  but  reaches  farther  and 
higher  than  the  race  of  Adam — to  angelic  intelli- 
gencies.  St.  Paul,  speaking  of  his  own  letters  and 
of  their  teaching,  declares  it  to  be  the  purpose  of 
God  that  unto  "  principalities  and  powers  might  be 
known  by  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God." 
St.  Peter,  speaking  of  the  great  truths  conveyed  by 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  adds,  "Which  things 
the  angels  desire  to  look  into."  The  angel  who 
appeared  with  John  in  the  Apocalypse  declared  his 
own  membership  in  the  written  promises  :  "I  am  of 
thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and  of  them  that  keep 
the  saying  of  this  book."  The  Scriptures  constitute 
therefore  a  royal  proclamation,  made  before  the 
universe,  and  sealed  with  the  yea  and  amen  of  Him 
that  cannot  lie.     This  is  what  Scripture  says  of 


128  GOD'S   WORD  WRITTEN. 

itself;  and  is  it  conceivable  that  such  a  proclama- 
tion should  not  be  true? 

Again,  Scripture  is  given  for  the  very  purpose 
of  teaching.  Its  declared  object  is  to  make  wise. 
How  can  it  fulfil  this  purpose  if  its  contents  be  not 
true  ?  If  it  teaches  what  is  untrue,  it  undermines 
the  very  basis  of  all  wisdom,  and  becomes  the  in- 
strument of  demoralizing  deception.  What  would 
be  thought  of  an  earthly  master  who  should  put 
into  the  hands  of  his  pupils  a  manual  of  instruction 
made  up  of  fact  and  fiction,  and  should  teach  them 
an  imaginary  and  fictitious  history  instead  of  the 
record  of  the  world's  actual  events?  Such  an  act 
would  rather  unteach  than  teach.  Shall  we  sup- 
pose that  the  all-wise  God,  of  his  sovereign  mercy 
towards  mankind,  has  voluntarily  professed  to  sup- 
ply us  with  a  text-book  of  religious  instruction,  and 
yet  that  it  is  not  true  ? 

Scripture  is  the  latest  and  most  special  instru- 
ment for  making  known  God's  will.  First,  God  made 
man  in  his  own  image,  and  in  the  intimate  inter- 
course of  Paradise  met  him  face  to  face.  Man  fell, 
and  lost  in  the  fall  this  immediate  access  to  God. 
He  carried  with  him  indeed  into  his  banishment 
from  Eden  the  knowledge  already  received  in  his 
unfallen  state.  But  for  the  preservation  of  this 
tradition  of  truth,  and  its  extension  to  succeeding 
generations,  he  became  dependent  on  his  reason 
and  conscience,  and  the  teaching  of  the  outward 
world.  The  spring  of  truth  was  no  longer  gushing 
forth  unceasingly  from  its  Divine  fountain-head 
But    reason    and    conscience    proved    inadequate. 


THE   TRUE  WORD   OF  GOD.  129 

"  They  became  vain  in  their  imagination,  and  their 
foolish  heart  was  darkened;  professing  themselves 
to  be  wise,  they  became  fools."  Wherefore  God 
ceased  to  strive  with  them.  "  As  they  did  not  like 
to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them 
over  to  a  reprobate  mind."  He  still  retained  a  good 
seed  in  the  world,  a  remnant  according  to  the  elec- 
tion of  grace.  He  still  made  himself  known  by 
prophets  beyond  the  Abrahamic  line,  such  as  Mel- 
chisedee  and  Jethro  and  Balaam,  and  the  old 
prophet  of  Bethel.  But  this  oral  teaching  was 
proved  to  be  inadequate  for  the  ever-deepening 
darkness  of  the  Gentile  world.  God  therefore  made 
use  of  one  other  means  for  the  declared  purpose  of 
maintaining  a  truth  which  unassisted  human  nature 
had  failed  to  preserve,  and  this  other  means  con- 
sisted of  a  written  revelation.  But  if  this  written 
revelation  itself  contained  mistakes,  and  was  dark- 
ened by  the  reflection  of  human  ignorance,  its  very 
objects  were  frustrated.  It  would  not  only  fail  as 
other  agencies  had  failed,  but  it  would  aggravate 
the  evil.  Containing  errors  under  the  form  of  a 
revelation  from  God,  it  would  enlist  human  rev- 
erence on  behalf  of  the  false,  not  on  behalf  of  the 
true,  and  would  perpetuate  the  darkness  it  was 
intended  to  remove. 

But,  further,  the  Scriptures  demand  human  be- 
lief, not  alone  to  their  doctrines,  but  also  to  their 
facts.  But  such  a  claim  would  be  monstrous  if  its 
assertions  were  accompanied  by  the  consciousness 
that  the  teaching  claiming  belief  was  not  true.  It 
would  be  contrary  to  the  first  instincts  of  justice  to 


130  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

insist  upon  credence  in  the  absence  of  sufficient 
grounds  for  it ;  for  the  higher  nature  of  man  clings 
to  the  true,  and  rebels  instinctively  against  the  false; 
its  noblest  faculties  and  purest  affections  stand  up 
in  arms  against  a  lie.  It  is  unimaginable  that  a 
holy  God  should  have  endowed  man  with  a  capacity 
for  knowing  and  loving  truth,  and  then  should  ex- 
pect him  to  contradict  his  heaven-given  nature  by 
believing  what  is  untrue.  The  New  Testament  wri- 
ters, men  miraculously  endowed  with  the  extraordi- 
nary gifts  of  the  Spirit,  quote  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  as  the  final  court  of  appeal,  the  conclu- 
sive and  unanswerable  arguments  for  truth.  Yet, 
if  the  contents  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  be 
not  true,  we  are  shut  up  to  this  conclusion,  that 
God  moved  his  servants  to  appeal  to  the  unerring 
certainty  of  a  standard  which  he  knew  all  the  while 
to  be  erring  and  deceptive. 

The  alternative  thus  presented  is  yet  further 
strengthened  when  the  last  of  the  six  specified  as- 
sertions of  Scripture  relative  to  itself  is  taken  into 
account.  This  is,  that  disbelief  in  Scripture  is  a 
sin,  and  will  be  punished  as  a  sin.  It  becomes  as 
strong  an  argument  for  the  absolute  truth  of  the 
revealed  word  as  can  possibly  be  conceived;  for  the 
absence  of  such  a  truth  would  charge  the  conduct 
of  God  (I  speak  the  very  words  with  awe  and  fear) 
with  the  highest  conceivable  injustice.  It  amounts 
to  nothing  less  than  this :  that  if  the  Scriptures  be 
not  absolutely  true,  God  must  have  sent  a  communi- 
cation to  mankind  clothed  with  all  the  sanctions  of 
his  own  authority,  and  sealed  ostentatiously  with 


THE  TRUE  WORD  OF  GOD.  131 

Lis  awful  name,  and  that  lie  lias  declared  his  purpose 
to  punish  mankind  for  not  believing  it,  though  false — 
that  is,  for  not  obeying  a  revelation  of  his  will,  in- 
tentionally made  through  human  messengers,  and 
which,  either  through  a  defect  of  power  or  of  will, 
(it  matters  not  which  alternative  is  adopted,)  he  has 
not  preserved  from  being  mixed  with  idle  fancies, 
weakened  by  fiction,  distorted  by  mistakes,  or  tainted 
by  fraud. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  Scripture  does  assert 
its  own  absolute  veracity,  and  does  it  in  the  mode 
most  consistent  with  the  self-consciousness  of  an 
inspiring  Deity.  Reiterated  affirmation  of  truth 
attached  to  each  writer  or  each  book,  or  each  state- 
ment in  each  book,  would  have  been  equally  useless 
and  incongruous.  The  claim  is  asserted  in  the  ma- 
jestic attitude  and  Divine  character  of  revelation, 
and  cannot  be  separated  from  them.  Absolute  truth 
is  the  immediate  and  necessary  inference,  or  rather, 
perhaps  I  should  say,  the  essential  condition  in- 
volved in  all  the  statements  of  Scripture  relative  to 
itself.  Six  separate  lines  bear  the  same  indepen- 
dent testimony;  their  voices  combine  in  one  har- 
monious and  consentient  witness,  like  the  voices  of 
angels  proclaiming  trumpet-tongued  the  spotless 
excellence  and  abiding  authority  of  the  everlasting 
gospel. 

But  the  same  argument  avails  to  extend  with 
great  force  the  assertion  of  this  quality  of  truth  to 
all  and  every  part  of  Scripture.  The  Bible  not  only 
contains  some  true  things,  but  it  contains  no  un- 
true things.    All  its  contents  are  true,  according  to 


132  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  nature  of  their  truth.  Its  deep  mysteries,  its 
grand  promises,  its  records  of  the  past,  its  predic- 
tions of  the  future,  its  majestic  history,  its  graphic 
narratives,  its  ethnological  and  genealogical  details, 
all  are  true.  Let  us  not  shrink  from  accepting  the 
only  legitimate  conclusion  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth.  None  will  deny  that  errors  have  taken 
place  in  transcription,  that  dates  have  been  inaccu- 
rately copied,  that  glosses  have  been  interpolated. 
We  leave  the  determination  of  these  questions,  and 
the  settlement  of  the  true  text  in  those  minute  de- 
tails on  which  alone  existing  copies  differ,  to  the 
ordinary  resources  of  criticism.  We  take  the  text 
as  thus  settled,  and  for  this  text,  thus  identified 
with  the  original  autographs,  we  affirm  that  it  con- 
tains truth,  and  nothing  but  truth.  We  base  the 
assertion,  first  of  all,  on  the  Divine  character  of 
Scripture  as  a  revelation  from  God;  and  secondly, 
on  the  positive  statements  of  this  divinely-revealed 
Scripture  as  to  its  own  character.  As  they  involve 
the  truth,  so  they  involve  also  the  universal  truth  of 
their  contents.  We  have  already  seen  how  strong- 
presumption  of  this  equality  of  character  arises  from 
the  nature  of  the  attesting  evidence.  We  now  gather 
the  same  conclusion  from  its  positive  teaching. 

Let  the  conditions  of  the  case  be  again  borne  in 
mind.  The  Scriptures  are  a  revelation  from  God, 
sanctioned  with  his  authority  as  Creator  and  King, 
and  for  the  express  purpose  of  teaching  us  the 
things  that  belong  to  salvation,  intended  to  correct 
the  defects  and  mistakes  of  what  is  called  natural 
religion,  claiming   absolute   credence   alike  for  its 


THE  TRUE  WORD  OF  GOD.  133 

statements  of  facts  and  revelations  of  doctrine,  de- 
nouncing disbelief  as  a  sin,  and  pronouncing  upon 
it  the  severity  of  God's  wrath.  Now  let  us  place 
side  by  side  with  these  claims  the  supposition  that 
the  Bible  is  partly  true  and  partly  untrue,  and  note 
what  would  be  the  consequences. 

Several  theories  have  been  advanced  as  to  the 
source  and  extent  of  this  admixture  of  truth  and 
error  in  one  and  the  same  book.  It  has  been  said 
that  its  doctrines  are  true,  but  not  its  historical  nar- 
ratives; and  yet  the  narratives  are  so  interwoven 
with  the  doctrines  as  to  make  a  separation  practi- 
cally impossible,  and  reduce  the  attempt  to  an  utter 
absurdity.  It  has  been  said  by  others  that  those 
portions  are  true  which  immediately  affeot  salva- 
tion, but  not  those  portions  which  affect  details  of 
character  and  conduct ;  and  yet  the  minute  maxims 
of  the  Bible  are  all  corollaries  from  its  fundamental 
principles.  It  has  been  said  that  its  teaching,  so  far 
as  it  affects  questions  lying  beyond  the  range  of  the 
human  intellect,  is  true ;  but  not  its  teaching  on  mat- 
ters falling  within  the  legitimate  range  of  human 
discovery  and  knowledge ;  and  yet  it  is  an  unsettled 
question  what  subjects  are  discoverable  by  man  and 
what  are  not.  Some  think  that  the  human  intui- 
tions are  able  to  discover  infallibly  even  God  him- 
self. Some  think  that  human  knowledge  cannot 
deal  infallibly  even  with  the  minutest  fact;  and  cer- 
tainly of  the  two  the  weight  of  experience  inclines 
very  decidedly  towards  the  latter. 

But  for  the  present  let  either  theory  be  adopted; 
the  Scripture  then  is  partly  true  and  partly  untrue. 


134  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Part  of  it  may  be  accepted  with  the  most  implicit 
and  unreserved  faith ;  part  needs  to  be  scrutinized 
with  the  most  jealous  suspicion,  and  part  to  be 
rejected  with  the  most  unhesitating  promptitude. 
The  embarrassing  difficulty  lies  in  the  intermixture 
of  these  portions.  If  each  of  them  occupied  its  own 
distinctive  and  distinguishable  sphere,  so  that  it 
could  be  taken  bodily  out  of  the  rest,  and  being 
regarded  as  a  whole  of  itself,  could  be  either  ac- 
cepted or  rejected  as  the  case  might  be,  the  task 
would  be  comparatively  easy.  But,  unfortunately 
for  such  a  supposition,  the  two  are  intermingled 
everywhere,  lying  side  by  side,  and  even  compacted 
together  as  the  fine  metal  and  the  earthy  dross  may 
be.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  on  the  surface  to  guide 
the  mind  in  distinguishing  them.  The  same  air  of 
validity  and  verisimilitude  surrounds  the  whole. 
They  are  all  framed  into  one  consecutive  and  har- 
monious revelation ;  they  fit  naturally  into  each 
other ;  they  are  surrounded  by  the  same  external 
sanctions.  The  case  is  not  that,  upon  the  theory 
of  skepticism,  the  Bible  is  like  a  mass  of  rock,  with 
the  glittering  gold  intermingled  with  the  baser  ma- 
terial in  one  conglomerate,  but  so  sparkling  and 
bright  in  contrast  with  the  dross  that  the  eye  can 
immediately  and  certainly  distinguish  it;  but  the 
case  is,  that  the  Bible  is  like  an  ore  which  needs  to 
be  submitted  to  the  furnace,  and  from  which  the 
purifying  fire  alone  can  separate  the  precious  metal 
from  the  worthless  admixture. 

Hence,  to  distinguish  the  true  from  the  untrue 
is  a  work  of  admitted  difficulty.     Upon  the  theory 


THE  TRUE  WOED  OF  GOD.  135 

of  the  skeptic  it  requires  an  intuitive  critical  in- 
stinct, accurate  scholarship,  and  unflagging  indus- 
try, assisted  by  all  the  resources  of  a  criticism  per- 
fected only  in  the  course  of  four  thousand  years, 
and  disciplined  by  many  years  of  exercise;  and 
when  the  study  has  been  pursued  for  a  life,  the 
result  attained  is  indefinitely  variable  and  uncer- 
tain. An  individual  critic  will  speak  of  his  own 
conclusions,  it  is  true,  with  the  utmost  confidence; 
but  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  other  men  to  accept 
them  with  the  same  feeling,  both  because  of  the 
frequent  changes  of  the  individual  opinion,  and  the 
utter  contrariety  of  view  existing  between  him  and 
others  of  the  same  craft.  Modern  critics  are  like 
an  arm}',  where  every  man's  hand  is  against  his 
fellow.  The  utmost  approximation  to  certainty  in 
such  a  case  does  not  exceed  a  probability.  But  if 
within  the  charmed  circle  of  critical  experts  this  is 
true,  what  must  be  the  hopeless  condition  of  the 
outsiders?  A  large  proportion  of  mankind  have 
neither  time  nor  ability  for  such  studies,  nor  inter- 
est in  such  questions.  How  can  such  men  discrim- 
inate the  true  and  the  untrue,  mingled  as  they  are 
asserted  to  be  in  the  same  books,  the  same  chap- 
ters, and  the  same  verses?  The  position  of  an 
educated  man,  with  the  ordinary  resources  of  an 
average  education  at  hand,  is  not  much  more  favor- 
able. For  which  of  the  critics  shall  he  take  as  his 
master,  Schleiermacher,  or  Paulus,  or  Strauss,  or 
Kenan  ?  At  whose  feet  shall  he  sit  as  an  obedient 
disciple,  Eichhorn  or  Vater,  De  Wette  or  Ewald, 
Donaldson  or  Colenso  ?     To  cast  lots  among  them, 


136  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  allow  what  men  call  chance  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion, would  perhaps  be  as  reasonable  a  mode,  and 
as  likely  to  be  satisfactory,  as  any  other  that  can 
be  suggested. 

Thus  the  picture  presented  to  us  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  Scriptures  are  partly  true  and  partly 
untrue,  is  a  Bible  not  blended  of  sharply  contrasted 
colors,  but  bearing  a  thousand  hues  and  tints  and 
shades;  a  mass  of  confusion  hopelessly  and  inex- 
tricably blended  together,  making  inquiry  doubtful 
and  certainty  impossible. 

Yet,  according  to  the  positive  statements  of 
Scripture,  life  and  death,  obedience  or  disobedience, 
a  blessing  or  a  curse,  heaven  or  hell,  hang  upon  the 
solution  of  that  problem.  If  any  partiality  of  feel- 
iDg,  any  self-love,  any  personal  prejudice  or  hostil- 
ity, blind  a  man's  judgment,  he  may  incur  the  awful 
risk  of  setting  himself  against  God  on  the  one  side, 
or  of  imputing  to  God  what  never  proceeded  from 
him  on  the  other.  If  indeed  a  man  could  rest 
secure  on  the  consciousness  of  an  unclouded  purity 
of  intention,  an  unsullied  love  for  truth,  an  unmixed 
and  unfailing  wish  to  do  right,  and  only  to  do  right, 
he  might  venture  to  throw  himself  upon  the  un- 
known mercies  of  God,  and  trust  to  be  pardoned  for 
his  involuntary  and  inevitable  mistakes.  But  the 
position  even  of  such  a  man  as  this  would  be  a  very 
awful  one  in  face  of  the  severe  warnings  and  un- 
qualified denunciations  of  the  Word — awful  as  if  he 
walked  amid  the  thunders  and  voices  of  Sinai,  and 
nigh  to  the  quivering  sides  of  the  mountain  which 
none  might  touch  and  live.     As  to  the  certainty  of 


THE  TRUE  WORD  OF  GOD.  137 

the  Bible,  its  clear  guidance  and  the  security  of  its 
teaching,  why,  what  David  described  as  a  lamp 
would  be  either  a  flickering  spark  struggling  amid 
the  darkness,  or  a  false  meteor  luring  men  to  their 
death. 

But  such  a  conclusion  cannot  be  avoided,  if,  on 
the  one  side,  Scripture  makes  these  six  assertions 
relative  to  itself,  and  if,  on  the  other,  its  contents 
be  not  all  true.  I  believe  that  no  mind  whatever 
can  accept  such  a  conclusion,  can  believe  in  such 
an  alternative;  and  if  we  are  thus  shut  in  on  one 
side  and  on  the  other  by  results  equally  tremendous 
and  incredible,  what  remains  but  that  we  should 
follow  the  one  open  path,  and  adopt  the  one  natu- 
ral and  consistent  belief,  that  the  contents  of  Scrip- 
ture are  true,  and  all  true?  The  conclusion  is  no 
matter  of  theory,  but  one  of  positive  and  revealed 
authority.  The  word  of  God  claims  certain  charac- 
ters for  itself.  It  is  God's  own  voice,  with  his  own 
solemn  utterance  affirming  his  word  to  be  truth 
without  admixture  of  error.  On  this  assurance  let 
faith  calmly  rest,  and  before  this  warning  let  spec- 
ulative theories  be  hushed  into  obedient  silence — 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 


138  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 


CHAPTEE   VIII. 

A  REVELATION  IMPLIES  TWO  PARTIES,  AND 
THEREFORE  TWO  ELEMENTS. 

Skeptical  Denial  of  the  Truth  of  all  Scripture — Must  be  settled 
by  Appeal  to  Facts— Preliminary  Settlement  of  the  Standard 
to  be  followed — Misapprehensions  relative  to  the  two  Elements 
of  Scripture — Their  Existence  Inevitable  and  Agreeable  to  all 
God's  Mode  of  Working — Both  must  be  maintained,  and  yet 
not  separated — No  Inconsistency  between  them — Analogy  of 
the  Personal  Word — The  whole  of  Scripture  Human,  and  the 
whole  of  Scripture  Divine. 

It  has  been  shown  in  the  two  preceding  chap- 
ters that  the  Scriptures  assert  their  own  plenary 
authority  and  absolute  truth.     The  loftiest  epithets 
supplied  by  human  language  are  not  too  strong  to 
express  its  aspect  and  attitude.      The  immediate 
(    sanctions  of  a  Divine  authorship,  the  solemnity  of 
•   a  royal  proclamation,  the  sufficiency  of  an  inspired 
teaching,  the  claims  of  an  unerring  veracity,  the 
/   obligations  of  a  moral  duty,  and  the  sanctions  of 
an  everlasting  reward  or  punishment,  invest  it  with 
\  a  character  alike  solemn  and  unique,  like  the  vest- 
ments of  power  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  manifested 
Deity.    This  is  the  account  Scripture  gives  of  itself. 
Is  this  account  to  be  accepted  as  conclusive,  or  do 
other  considerations  imperatively  modify  it  ? 

Whatever  authority  belongs  to  the  Christian 
Scriptures  in  general  belongs  equally  to  their  asser- 
tions relative  to  themselves  in  particular.     It  has 


TWO  PAKTIES  IMPLIED.  139 

been  shown  that  they  fill  a  position  peculiar  to 
themselves  and  without  a  parallel.  The  inspired 
character  of  their  human  authors,  attested  as  it 
was  by  signs  and  wonders — the  organic  unity  char- 
acteristic of  their  contents,  and  by  the  very  diver- 
sity of  the  human  authorship  and  date  suggestive 
of  a  Divine  intelligence  planning  and  superintend- 
ing the  whole — the  sublimity  of  its  contents,  and  its 
revelation  of  mysteries  far  transcending  the  utmost 
powers  of  the  human  intellect — attest  with  one  con- 
sentient voice  its  supernatural  character.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  for  a  mind  which  accepts  this 
evidence  to  demur  to  the  authority  of  its  teaching, 
whether  it  has  reference  to  the  character  of  Scrip- 
ture itself  or  to  any  other  portion  of  the  Divine 
dealings  with  mankind,  if  the  teaching  be  suffi- 
ciently definite  and  precise.  Do  Ave  rightly  inter- 
pret its  own  language?  will  be,  to  a  devout  Chris- 
tian, the  only  open  question. 

The  proofs  already  alleged  appear  to  be  suffi- 
ciently precise.  Yet,  if  the  assertions  ostentatiously 
made  and  paraded  by  modern  skepticism  be  true, 
there  must  be  some  mistake,  since  it  is  inconceiva- 
ble that  God  should  allege  claims  not  substantiated 
by  the  facts  of  the  case.  It  is  asserted  that  the 
contents  of  Scripture  are  not  all  true,  and  have  been 
proved  to  be  not  all  true.  Its  facts  are  alleged  to 
be  inaccurate,  its  recorded  events  incredible,  and 
some  of  its  revealed  doctrines  monstrously  at  vari- 
ance with  man's  first  conceptions  of  a  pure  and 
holy  God.  Could  these  assertions  be  substantiated, 
it  would  inevitably  follow  that  the  contents  of  the 


140  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Bible  could  not  be  all  stamped  with  Divine  infalli- 
bility. With  regard  to  the  special  claims  quoted 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  two  alternatives  only 
would  remain.  Either  we  should  conclude  that 
these  passages  did  not  really  involve  the  claim  of 
absolute  truth,  however  plain  and  cogent  the  infer- 
ence may  apparently  be,  or  that  these  passages  con- 
tradict the  claim  to  a  Divine  authorship;  since,  in 
their  proved  untruthfulness,  they  must  only  be  the 
extravagance  of  a  human  fanaticism,  and  not  the 
utterances  of  a  Divine  word. 

Having,  therefore,  examined  the  claims  asserted 
by  the  Bible,  as  it  is,  and  regarded  it  as  a  whole, 
relative  to  its  own  authority,  it  becomes  a  matter 
vof  the  highest  importance  to  examine  the  evidences 
>n  the  other  side,  and  ascertain  how  far  they  inval- 
idate the  force  of  the  positive  claim.  Have  inaccu- 
racies, mistakes,  and  contradictions  been  proved  to 
exist  in  Scripture?  We  need  not  fear  to  enter 
upon  the  inquiry  with  the  utmost  frankness.  From 
the  investigation,  faith  in  the  Divine  authority  of 
the  Scriptures  will  but  emerge  trebly  armed.  In 
the  face  of  all  modern  argument,  its  ingenious  spec- 
ulations and  elaborate  inquiries,  we  need  not  fear 
to  maintain  with  unabated  confidence,  and  deeper 
conviction  than  before,  the  inerrability  of  the  word 
of  God,  and  that  its  contents  are  all,  in  the  fullest 
and  plainest  sense  of  the  word,  true. 

The  critical  tests  applied  to  the  solution  of  this 
question  are,  however,  variable,  arbitrary,  and  ca- 
pricious in  the  extreme.  The  mode  of  forming  a 
conclusion  is  frequently  so  replete  with  misappre- 


TWO  PARTIES  IMPLIED.  141 

hensions,  alike  as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  question 
at  issue  and  the  actual  facts  of  the  case,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  clear  the  ground  somewhat  farther 
before  we  enter  upon  its  discussion.  By  carefully 
marking  the  road  as  we  advance,  we  shall  avoid 
those  ambiguities  of  language  by  which  the  ques- 
tion of  inspiration  has  been  most  seriously  embar- 
rassed. 

The  conclusion  already  reached  is,  that  the 
Scriptures  are  not  only  truly  the  word  of  God,  but 
that  they  are  the  true  word  of  God.  Their  charac- 
teristic is  not  only  their  truth,  for  this  they  may 
possess  in  common  with  many  human  works,  but 
their  guaranteed  truth.  The  very  signature,  as  it 
were,  of  God  himself  is  upon  his  written  word. 
Human  books  may  be  true  or  may  not  be  true, 
because  the  human  mind  is  fallible,  and  its  highest 
exercise  affords  no  demonstrative  evidence  of  vera- 
city ;  but  the  word  of  God  must  be  true,  because  it 
is  the  word  of  God.  The  assertion  of  its  truth 
involves,  therefore,  the  assertion  of  its  inspiration, 
and  the  assertion  of  its  universal  truth  the  asser- 
tion of  its  universal  inspiration.  The  two  things 
must  be  correlative  and  coextensive;  for  we  mean 
by  the  word  inspiration  that  Divine  side  of  the 
Scriptures  by  virtue  of  which  they  are  the  word  of 
God. 

The  specific  question  of  inspiration  thus  comes 
before  us  in  its  natural  and  its  Scriptural  order. 
The  course  of  the  argument  has  not  been  that  the 
Scriptures  are  inspired,  and  that  therefore  they  are 
the  true  word  of  God,  but  that  they  are  the  true  word 


142  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  God,  and  therefore  are  inspired.     This  is  the 
natural  order;  for  what  is  first  in  the  act  of  God  is 
necessarily  last  in  the  knowledge  of  man.     "We  be- 
fein  with  the  facts  nearest  to  ourselves,  and  trace 
them  back  to  their  original  and  originating  cause. 
It  is  the  Scriptural  order  ;  for  although  Scripture  is 
comparatively  silent  in  the  assertion  of  its  universal 
inspiration,  it  has  been  shown  to  be  particularly  full 
and  specific  in  the  assertion  of  its  Divine  and  au- 
thoritative character.     A  further  advantage  gained 
\  by  this  order  is,  that  the  stress  of  the  controversy 
(  is  not  laid  upon  the  word  "  inspiration."     Much  has 
been  said  of  the  usage  of  the  word,  alike  in  ancient 
times  and  in  the  formularies  of  the  churches  of  our 
day.      It  is  unnecessary  even   to  discuss   such   a 
question;  for  it  can  only  affect  our  employment  of 
a  word,  not  our  acceptance  of  a  truth.     That  the 
almost  unanimous  voice  of  all  Christian  theology, 
-alike  in  the  primitive  days  and  in  the  times  of  the 
\  Reformation,  has  asserted  the  predominant  author- 
ity and  absolute  truth  of  Scripture,  cannot  be  de- 
nied.    Whether  the  word  inspiration  be  the  best 
word  to  express  the  Divine  element  by  virtue  of 
which  Scripture  possesses  these  qualities  is  a  mat- 
ter of  very  secondary  interest.     We  use  the  word 
I  because  it  is  a  convenient  term,  and  the  term  most 
\  closely  corresponding  in  our  language  to  the  apos- 
/  tolic  fjto-vEvoTog;    but  the  object  near  to  the  heart  of 
the  Christian  is  not  the  defence  of  a  word,  but  the 
vindication  of  the  truth  expressed  by  it. 

The  expression  that  the  Bible  is  the  true  word 
of  God  is,  perhaps,  the  most  absolute  assertion  of 


TWO  PARTIES  IMPLIED.  143 

Hie  Divine  element  that  can  be  made  in  words.     It 
therefore  serves  to  illustrate  the  impossibility  of 
stating  the  claim  without  including  a  human  ele- 
ment as  well  as  a  Divine.     Much  discussion  has  I 
been  raised  as  to  the  existence  of  a  human  element. 
The  term  itself  has  been  employed  with  singular 
uncertainty  and  ambiguity  of  sense,  and  the  belief 
in  a  plenary  or  verbal  inspiration  has  been  repre- 
sented as  necessarily  involving  the  denial  of  its  ex- 
istence.    The  discussion  is  little  better  than  a  con- 
flict about  words.     There  must  be  two  elements  in) 
a  revelation,  because  there  must  be  two  parties  con-    ( 
cerned — the  party  by  whom  the  revelation  is  made,    \ 
and  the  party  to  whom  it  is  made.     If  the  second 
party  be  absent,  it  ceases  to  be  a  revelation,  and 
becomes  a  mere  act  of  self-consciousness  on  the 
part  of  God.     It  is  impossible  to  state  the  facts  of 
the  case  in  words  which  do  not  involve  a  human 
element ;  that  is,  human  action  in  the  composition 
of  Scripture.     The  very  description  of  the  word  is 
human  in  the  terms,  in  their  construction,  and  in 
the  sense  conveyed.     If  we  say  that  the  Bible  is  the  ^ 
true  word  of  God,  the  term  "word"  involves  the 
human  element,  for  it  denotes  at  once  the  fact  of  a    / 
communication  and  the  channel  through  which  it  is    / 
made.     If  we  say  that  the  Bible  is  "God's  word," 
we  express  it  yet  more  distinctly  in  the  further  term, 
"written;"  written  how  but  in  human  words,  by 
human  hands,  through  human  materials,  and  for 
human  readers  ?     To  talk  of  a  revekition  devoid  of 
a  human  element,  is  to  use  words  devoid  of  sense. 
Such  an  element  must  exist ;  and  no  theorist,  how- 


144  GODS  WORD   WRITTEN. 

ever  extreme,  can  ever  have  intended  to  deny  its 

existence.     All  discussion  is  needless  here.     The 

C  question  remaining  to  be  settled  is,  In  what  sense, 

a  or  more   accurately,   To  what   extent  it  exists  in 

(  Scripture  ?     For  if  there  be  nothing  to  qualify  its 

extent,  it  must  evidently  involve  the  possibility  of 

human  error,  as  well  as  the  employment  of  human 

words  and  the  agency  of  human  minds. 

The  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  very  fact  of  the 
existence  of  the  two  elements ;  for  if  they  are  two, 
they  must  be  distinct  from  each  other ;  if  they  are 
not  distinct,  the}'  become  one  ;  if  they  are  elements, 

Ithen  they  are  constituents  of  some  common  whole. 
The  two  are  consequently  ever  distinct,  but  never 
separate.  Let  us  keep  them  so,  neither  confusing 
them  together  nor  allowing  either  one  to  absorb  the 
other,  and  the  question  will  be  found  to  be  answered. 
The  perfect  Divine  element  is  to  be  maintained  on 
the  one  side ;  the  perfect  human  element  is  to  be 
maintained  on  the  other ;  but  the  Divine  is  neither 
to  absorb  the  human,  nor  is  the  human  to  derogate 
from  the  Divine. 

In  holding  this  equipoise  of  the  two,  we  are 
assisted  by  the  analogy  of  the  personal  Word  of 
God.  In  him  "  two  whole  and  perfect  natures,  the 
Godhead  and  manhood,  were  joined  together  in  one 
person,  never  to  be  divided."  Article  2.  Here, 
therefore,  is  distinction,  but  not  separation.  If  we 
say  that  the  two  natures  were  mingled  so  that  there 
was  a  third  something  made  up  of  both,  but  itself 
neither  Godhead  nor  manhood,  then  we  destroy 
both  natures,  "  confounding  the  substance."     If  we 


TWO  PARTIES  IMPLIED.  145 

separate  tlie  two  natures,  so  that  Christ  was  at  one 
time  and  in  one  act  simple  Godhead  and  in  another 
simple  manhood,  then  we  destroy  "  the  unity  of  per- 
son," and  make  two  Christs  instead  of  one.  Scrip- 
ture asserts  him  to  have  been  perfect  God  and  per- 
fect man,  and  we  therefore  accept  him  as  both  in 
one,  although  the  point  of  contact  between  the  two 
and  the  mode  of  their  union  are  beyond  all  human 
comprehension.  Truly,  "  Great  is  the  mystery  of 
godliness  :  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh."  1  Tim. 
3:16. 

We  must  learn  to  think  and  speak  in  exactly  the 
same  mode  relative  to  the  Divine  and  human  ele- 
ments in  Scripture.  If  we  attempt  to  confound" 
them  together,  and  say  that  Scripture  is  neither 
human  nor  Divine,  but  something  made  up  of  both, 
we  are  corrected  by  the  plain  facts  of  the  case,  for 
the  distinct  human  element  is  palpably  there  in  the 
language,  imagery,  and  style ;  and  the  distinct  Di- 
vine element  is  also  there  in  the  all-pervading  unity 
of  design  and  sublimity  of  subject.  We  can  no  more 
suppose  the  former  to  be  Divine  than  we  can  sup- 
pose the  latter  to  be  human.  To  confound  the  two 
together  is  only  to  destroy  both. 

Nor  are  we  any  more  able  to  separate  the  two 
elements  than  we  are  to  confound  them.  For  if  we 
say  that  part  of  the  Scripture  is  Divine  and  part  of 
it  human,  we  are  again  contradicted  by  the  facts ; 
for  in  the  part  we  acknowledge  to  be  Divine  the 
human  element  still  survives.  We  can  indeed  say, 
if  we  like,  that  the  whole  is  human,  for  this  is  per- 
fectly conceivable.     But  in  saying  so  we  are  met  by 


140  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  other  class  of  facts  specified  in  chapter  ni., 
which  prove  that  it  cannot  be  all  human,  since  the 
supernatural  is  ingrained  into  its  very  structure, 
and  stamped  as  with  a  visible  signet  alike  on  its 
external  and  internal  evidences. 

The  only  alternative,  therefore,  left  open  to  us  is 
to  maintain  both  elements,  distinct  and  yet  insepar- 
able. The  whole  of  Scripture  is  Divine,  and  the 
whole  of  Scripture  is  human;  none  the  less  Divine 
because  it  is  human;  none  the  less  human  because 
it  is  Divine.  To  argue  that  because  it  is  Divine  it 
cannot  be  human,  or  that  because  it  is  human  it 
cannot  also  be  Divine,  is  practically  to  argue  that 
the  Divine  and  the  human  cannot  be  united.  No 
believer  in  the  hypostatics!  union  of  the  two  natures 
in  the  one  person  of  Christ  can  with  any  consistency 
adopt  such  a  plea.  The  glorious  person  of  Christ 
is  the  living  protest  against  it;  for  if  the  two  can  be 
united  in  the  personal  Word,  why  may  they  not  be 
united  equally  in  the  written  word  ?  The  agent  of 
the  union  is  the  same  in  both  cases,  t  vTen  God  the 
Holy  Ghost.  In  the  personal  Word  we  believe  that 
he  was  "conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost" — here  was 
the  Divine  side  of  the  one  person ;  and  that  he  was 
"born  of  the  Virgin  Mary" — here  was  the  human 
side.  In  regard  to  the  written  word,  "  holy  men  of 
old  wrote  " — here  is  the  human  side ;  "  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost " — here  is  the  Di- 
vine. Yet  both  meet  in  the  same  word,  as  the  two 
clauses  are  but  the  constituents  of  one  sentence  : 
"  Holy  men  of  old  wrote  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost."     2  Peter  1 :  21. 


TWO  PARTIES  IMPLIED.  147 

We  must  therefore  maintain  the  Divine  element 
of  Scripture  in  all  the  infallibility  of  its  truth,  and 
all  the  authority  of  its  source.  We  must  no  less 
maintain  the  human  element  in  all  its  fulness  and 
essential  characteristics.  Whatever  is  peculiar  to 
human  writing  is  there  ;  whatever  is  peculiar  to 
Divine  authority  is  there.  The  sole  limitations  are 
supplied  by  the  union  of  the  two.  We  must  neither 
so  press  the  Divine  as  to  exclude  the  human,  nor 
so  extend  the  human  as  to  exclude  the  Divine. 


148  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT  OF  SCRIPTURE  IN  ITS 
EELATION  TO  THE  DIVINE. 

Plan's  Tart  in  the  Composition  of  Scripture  to  be  maintained  in 
all  Particulars  Essential  to  Human  Agency— The  Personal  Pe-  ? 
culiarities  of  the  Writers— The  Human  Point  of  View,  and  the  | 
Human  Mode  of  Thinking  and  Speaking— Opposite  Theories 
of  the  Capability  of  Man  to  receive  Divine  Knowledge— Imper- 
fection of  Human  Language,  yet  Reality  of  Divine  Truth— Pe- 
culiarities of  Human  Language — Structural  Identity  of  Inspired 
and  Uninspired  Compositions. 

I  have  said  that  the  human  and  the  Divine  ele- 
ments are  distinct  on  one  side,  and  yet  inseparable 
upon  the  other.  Neither  of  them  can  therefore  be 
considered  b}r  itself,  but  must  ever  be  viewed  in 
connection  with  its  correlative.  To  regard  the  case 
otherwise  is  to  violate  one  of  its  ascertained  condi- 
tions. Thus,  in  examining  what  is  meant  by  the 
human  element,  and  the  extent  of  agencj^  exercised 
on  the  part  of  man  in  the  production  .of  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  must  view  it  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
Divine  element,  or  of  God's  part  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  same  work.  In  the  same  manner,  in 
examining  into  the  extent  of  the  Divine  element  in 
Scripture,  and  the  characteristics  involved  in  it,  we 
must  view  it  from  the  standpoint  of  the  human, 
maintaining  alike  their  distinctive  attributes  and 
their  inseparable  union. 

I.  Thus  the  Divine  element  is  not  to  absorb  the 
human.     God,  in  giving  his  revelation,  employed 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT.  119 

liumart  agents  as  Lis  messengers.  There  was  no 
other  mode  consistent  with  the  recognized  princi- 
ples of  his  moral  government  over  the  world  con- 
ceivable by  our  minds  for  the  purpose,  except  this 
use  of  human  instruments.  The  only  mode  of  test- 
ing this  fact  is  to  exhaust  the  alternative  methods, 
and  then  to  see  what  would  have  been  the  necessary 
consequences  of  their  adoption.  This  has  been  fully 
done  by  the  writer  in  a  previous  work,  and  it  is  un- 
necessary to  recapitulate  the  argument.  On  the 
supposition  that  God  deals  with  mankind  as  crea- 
tures invested  with  moral  responsibility,  and  in 
whom  therefore  the  work  of  Divine  redemption 
must  be  conducted  in  harmony  with  the  constitu- 
tion he  has  given  us,  there  is  no  possible  method  of 
making  a  revelation  of  God's  will  to  man  except 
through  the  vehicle  of  human  language.  This  lan- 
guage, moreover,  must  have  been  used  according 
to  its  known  and  ordinary  laws,  and  not  employed 
in  a  mystical  and  secondary  sense,  contrary  to  its 
familiar  usage.  Moreover  the  human  language  could 
only  be  used  through  human  agents  with  a  recog- 
nized standing-ground  of  their  own  in  the  working 
world,  and  amid  the  ordinary  activities  of  human 
life.  The  caution  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these 
conclusions  do  not  exist  in  the  form  of  a  fatalistic 
necessity  imposed  from  without  upon  the  freedom 
of  the  Divine  action,  but  arise  out  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  Divine  choice,  and  the  principles  avowedly 
adopted  in  his  moral  government  over  the  world. 

God  employed  human  agents  as  the  messengers 
of  his  will ;  they  must  be  accepted  therefore,  and 


150  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

judged  as  regards  the  manner  of  fulfilling  their 
commission  as  human  agents.  They  do  not  them- 
selves become  Divine,  because  they  are  used  by  a 
Divine  wisdom,  and  made  the  channels  of  a  Divine 
revelation  ;  they  lose  none  of  their  human  charac- 
teristics, but  retain  them  to  the  full.  All  that  is 
human  belongs  to  them  to  the  utmost  limits  impos- 
ed by  the  concurrent  action  of  the  Divine.  There 
is  a  wonderful  harmony  in  this  very  fact ;  for  as  the 
truths  revealed  are  intended  to  incorporate  them- 
selves as  it  were  into  human  life,  and  to  pervade  as 
a  blessed  leaven  the  whole  mass  of  practical  thought 
and  action,  so  they  are  brought  closely  into  contact 
with  it  by  the  familiar  sympathies,  habits,  and 
speech  of  the  messengers  who  conveyed  them.  It 
is  no  more  possible  to  draw  a  sharp  line  of  demar- 
cation between  the  principles  of  language  used  by 
inspired  writers  and  the  principles  of  language  used 
by  uuinspired  writers,  than  it  is  possible  to  separ- 
ate the  mental  faculties  of  religious  men  from  the 
ordinary  faculties  of  irreligious  men.  Human  na- 
ture is  elevated  and  sanctified  by  grace,  but  it  is 
not  changed  in  its  essential  qualities.  The  inspired 
writers  acquired  from  the  Holy  Spirit,  working  in 
them  and  through  them,  qualities  not  possessed 
by  uninspired  writers  ;  but  they  never  ceased  to  be 
human  or  to  use  the  ordinary  modes  of  communica- 
tion between  man  and  man,  however  much  these 
modes  may  have  been  elevated  into  more  than  or- 
dinary force  and  beauty  by  the  Divine  agency. 
They  continued  to  be  human  instruments  through- 
out, and  as  human  therefore  they  are  to  be  judged. 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT.  151 

Thus  the  inspired  writers  retain  their  respective 
peculiarities  alike  of  intellectual  gifts  and  moral 
character.  The  effect  still  survives  in  their  writings, 
which  are  just  as  characteristic  of  the  respective 
authors,  and  of  their  times  and  circumstances,  as 
are  the  productions  of  uninspired  writers.  The 
mode  of  viewing  and  stating  truth,  with  the  method 
of  its  illustration,  the  selection  of  the  appropriate 
language,  the  use  of  illustrative  figures  and  their 
specialities,  the  manner  of  argument,  and  the  liter- 
rary  style,  and  even  the  influence  produced  on  all 
the  foregoing,  by  the  moral  qualities  of  the  writer 
and  his  constitutional  temper  and  tendencies  of 
feeling,  constitute  the  patent  features  of  the  scrip- 
tural books.  This  portion  of  the  human  element  is 
acknowledged  by  all  parties  to  this  controversy,  at 
least  as  fully  and  distinctly  by  the  advocate  of  a 
verbal  inspiration  as  by  others,  if  not  more  fully 
than  by  others.  The  only  peculiarity  of  his  view  is, 
that  he  maintains  this  human  element  as  one  con- 
stituent only  of  the  composition,  and  not  the  whole, 
keeping  it  alike  distinct  and  inseparable  from  the 
concurrent  element  of  Divine  inspiration.  To 
charge  him  with  denying  or  forgetting  it,  is  either 
a  blundering  misapprehension  of  his  belief,  or  a 
libellous  perversion  of  it. 

II.  But  we  enter  upon  more  difficult  ground 
when  we  take  another  step,  and  assert  for  the  in- 
spired composition  the  essential  peculiarities  of  all 
human  thought.  Here  we  need  to  steer  our  course 
between  two  extremes.  On  the  one  side  of  the 
scale  stands  the  avowed  claim  of  rationalism  to  be 


152  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  competent  and  self-sufficient  judge  of  all  truth, 
even  that  relative  to  the  nature  and  will  of  God.  On 
the  other  side  stands  the  mistake  of  supposing  that 
we  are  incapable  of  knowing  any  truth  relative  to 
God,  and  that  the  teaching  of  revelation  itself  does 
not  present  to  us  the  truth  of  things,  but  only  such 
an  adumbration  of  them  as  alone  the  highest  facul- 
ties of  the  human  intellect  are  competent  to  receive. 
The  just  and  scriptural  view  holds  the  mean  be- 
tween these  extremes.  Against  the  rationalist  it 
maintains  that  the  human  mind  is  wholly  incompe- 
tent to  find  out  God  for  itself,  and  that  even  the 
conceptions  it  gathers  from  revelation  are  inade- 
quate to  comprehend  the  full  majesty  of  the  facts. 
At  the  same  time  it  maintains  that  although  the 
revelation  of  God  contained  in  his  word  is  limited 
by  the  capacities  of  a  finite  intellect  and  the  capa- 
bilities of  a  finite  language,  it  is  real  and  true  as  far 
as  it  goes — not  a  mere  shadow  of  truth,  but  truth 
itself.  What  we  know  is  but  a  small  part  of  the 
whole  ;  but  it  is  real  and  true  so  far  as  it  extends. 

The  claims  advanced  on  behalf  of  the  compe- 
tency of  the  human  reason  to  judge  of  Divine 
things,  involve  a  controversy  much  wider  than  the 
question  now  under  discussion.  It  is  remarkable 
that  the  claim  is  based  on  no  process  of  the  reason, 
but  on  the  intuition.  It  is,  therefore,  tacitly  ac- 
knowledged in  the  very  form  of  the  argument,  that 
we  possess  no  data  from  which  the  reasoning  facul- 
ties are  competent  to  argue  about  God,  and  that 
those  quick,  subtle,  sudden  flashes  of  truth,  which  lie 
so  wholly  beyond  the  range  of  definite  argument, 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT.  153 

that  we  call  them  intuitions,  are  alone  supposed  to 
be  capable  of  discovering  him.  But  the  utmost  pos- 
sible distrust  must  attach  to  processes  of  the  rea- 
son which  do  not  admit  of  reasoning.  It  may  be 
justly  suspected  that  these  flashes  of  unconscious 
truth  are  no  more  than  the  reflections  of  revealed 
knowledge,  principles  so  absorbed  in  the  process  of 
education,  into  the  very  texture  of  our  mental  selves, 
that  we  become  unconscious  of  the  source  whence 
we  obtain  them,  and  attribute  to  some  latent  divin- 
ity in  the  mind  itself,  what  are  really  the  reflected 
rays  of  an  external  revelation.  So  far  are  the  intui- 
tive conceptions  of  the  intellect  from  being  compe- 
tent to  supply  the  place  of  a  revelation,  that  they 
are  themselves  its  witnesses  and  fruits. 

With  this  argument,  however,  the  question  of  in- 
spiration is  only  concerned  in  a  secondary  degree. 
It  concerns  us  more  closely  to  note  that  human 
language  can  only  correspond  to  human  ideas, 
and  that  human  ideas  are  only  coextensive  with 
human  objects.  If  any  thing  exists — and  doubtless 
in  the  wide  universe  there  are  many  such  things — 
totally  dissimilar  to  any  thing  that  has  ever  fallen 
within  our  own  range  of  knowledge,  it  would  be 
neither  possible  for  us  to  conceive  it  in  the  absence 
of  the  appropriate  ideas,  nor  to  describe  it  in  the 
absence  of  appropriate  words.  This  would  be  the 
extreme  case.  But  in  proportion  as  any  object  dif- 
fers from  the  lessons  of  our  own  knowledge,  we  lose 
our  power  of  comprehending  it ;  and  only  so  far  as 
it  resembles  them  can  the  description  of  it  be 
framed  into  words. 


154  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Now,  the  rationalist  assumes  that  God  must  be 
wholly  like  man,  and  is  therefore  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  things  knowable  by  man.  The  philoso- 
pher, at  the  other  extreme,  avers  that  God  is  totally 
unlike  man,  and  therefore  is  unknowable  by  man. 
We  turn  from  both  to  the  Scriptures,  and  there  we 
find  the  Deity  described,  in  some  respects,  as  abso- 
lutely beyond  the  power  of  our  understanding,  and 
in  other  respects  within  it. 

Thus  God's  natural  attribute  of  omnipotence, 
omnipresence,  omniscience,  his  self- existence  and 
nature,  lie  wholly  beyond  our  comprehension.  But 
why?  Because  we  have  no  experimental  knowledge 
of  such  attributes  in  ourselves,  and  therefore  we 
cannot  understand  them  in  another.  We  use  the 
words,  and  understand  that  there  must  be  attri- 
butes corresponding  to  them ;  but  we  cannot  un- 
derstand the  attributes  themselves,  because  they 
are  the  natural  attributes  of  Deity,  and  the  nature 
of  God  must  be  wholly  different  from  that  of  man. 
But  it  is  otherwise  with  God's  moral  attributes  and 
relations.  These  are  repeatedly  described  in  Scrip- 
ture as  the  objects  of  our  human  knowledge,  and  the 
model  for  our  imitation.  Thus,  in  our  Lord's  words, 
"This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  thee,  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  thou  hast  sent,"  John 
17:3.  Again  I  ask,  Why?  Because  we  have  ex- 
perience of  similar  attributes  in  ourselves.  Our 
human  qualities,  at  best,  fall  infinitely  short  of  the 
glories  of  the  Divine  perfection,  and  are,  moreover, 
so  corrupted  by  sin  as  almost  to  have  lost  their 
original   stamp ;    yet  they  arc   in   themselves   the 


THE   HUMAN  ELEMENT.  155 

moral  reflection  of  the  Creator.  We  know  what 
love  and  pity,  kindness  and  benevolence,  approba- 
tion and  sympathy,  are  in  ourselves,  and  we  can 
therefore  understand  what  they  are  in  God.  For 
where  but  in  our  moral  nature  are  we  to  find  the 
image  of  God,  in  which  we  were  created,  and  into 
which  the  operating  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  again 
renews  the  regenerated  soul?  Thus  St.  Paul  ex- 
horts his  Ephesian  disciples  "  to  put  on  the  new 
man,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,"  Eph.  4 :  24.  To  the  Colossians  he 
writes,  "  Put  ye  on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed 
in  knowledge  after  the  image  of  Him  that  created 
him,"  Col.  3 :10.  The  Spirit,  by  St.  Peter,  uses  this 
remarkable  language  :  "  By  these  ye  might  be  par- 
takers of  the  Divine  nature,"  2  Pet.  1 : 4.  There  is 
therefore  in  the  moral  nature  of  man  a  similitude  to 
God,  defaced  by  the  fall,  but  again  renewed  by  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  possess  qualities  simi- 
lar in  kind  to  the  qualities  of  God.  From  this  ex- 
perience, consequently,  we  gather  the  appropriate 
ideas,  and  from  the  ideas  the  appropriate  language, 
through  which  a  true  knowledge  of  the  Divine  Be- 
ing, and  of  his  relation  towards  us,  and  our  relation 
towards  him,  may  be  communicated. 

When,  therefore,  we  say  that  the  Divine  element 
in  Scripture  is  to  be  so  understood  as  not  to  swal- 
low up  the  human,  the  principle  accounts  for  the 
employment  of  human  conceptions  and  human' 
methods  of  thinking,  since  by  no  others  could  we 
receive  truth.  In  every  case  the  revelation  is  as 
complete   as  the  most  perfect  use  of  human  Ian- 


156  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

guage — confessedly  an  imperfect  instrument,  at  the 
best,  to  express  our  thoughts,  much  more  the 
thoughts  of  God— could  make  it.  As  regards  the 
distinctive  attributes  of  Deity,  they  are  presented 
through  human  analogies.  Thus  the  knowledge  of 
God  is  depicted  by  the  all-seeing  eye ;  his  power 
by  the  all-mighty  hand ;  his  acquaintance  with  our 
thoughts  and  words  by  his  open  ear;  his  majesty 
and  power  by  the  illustration  of  crowns,  and  thrones, 
and  sceptres.  But  the  illustrations  are  at  the  same 
time  accompanied  by  explanations  which  prevent 
all  imputation  of  carnal  ideas  to  God,  and  teach  us 
to  regard  the  outward  images  as  no  more  than  the 
vivid  delineation  of  the  spiritual  God  to  the  facul- 
ties of  a  sensuous  creature.  The  truth  is  there,  but 
we  are  warned  of  the  imperfection  of  its  represen- 
tation. The  same  inadequacy  of  our  conceptions 
applies  in  part,  but  in  part  only,  to  the  moral  attri- 
butes of  God  and  our  relation  towards  him.  Our 
ascription  of  various  qualities  to  God  is  a  human 
thing  altogether,  and  a  mode  of  speaking  exactly 
analogous  to  what  we  use  in  speaking  of  his  eye, 
his  hand,  his  ear.  God  is  one,  "without  body,  parts, 
or  passions."  But  we  can  only  understand  him  by 
analogies  drawn  from  ourselves;  and  so  we  transfer 
to  him  the  notion  gathered  from  our  own  experience 
of  various  qualities  subsisting  in  one  person.  But 
when  avc  come  to  the  qualities  themselves,  we  drop 
the  use  of  figures  altogether,  and  speak  and  think  of 
God  no  longer  mediately,  but  immediately.  In  re- 
ceiving the  revelation  of  his  love  towards  us,  of  our 
original  relation  to  him,  of  our  separation  by  sin,  of 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT.  157 

our  restoration  through  an  atonement,  of  our  regen- 
eration after  his  image,  of  our  position  as  sons  by 
adoption,  and  of  the  promise  of  present  peace  and 
future  glory,  the  corresponding  ideas  in  our  own 
experience  enable  us  to  understand  the  revelation 
and  grasp  the  truth  without  the  necessity  of  inter- 
vening illustrations.  Still,  in  both  cases  it  is  a  rev- 
elation to  human  thought,  and  therefore  through 
human  methods  of  thought  and  all  the  distinctive 
peculiarities  of  human  thought.  They  are  part  of 
the  human  element;  and  without  the  human  ele- 
ment there  could  not  be  a  revelation  at  all. 

III.  Lastly,  the  Divine  inspiration  not  only 
leaves  untouched  the  peculiarities  of  human  lan- 
guage, but  makes  use  of  them  as  the  appropriate 
vehicle  of  truth.  Thus  the  construction  of  senten- 
ces, the  method  of  argument,  the  admixture  of  ex- 
postulation and  appeal,  the  use  of  poetical  phrases. 
the  employment  of  imagery,  and,  what  requires  spe- 
cial notice,  the  free  adoption  of  all  the  recognized 
figures  of  speech,  necessarily  follow  the  ordinary 
standard  of  language.  So  far  from  shrinking  from 
this  plain  principle  to  its  utmost  extent,  we  should 
find  it  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  could  be  other- 
wise. Once  admit  the  use  of  human  language,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  frame  any  other  limit  of  its  ordi- 
nary usages  than  is  supplied  by  its  contact  with  the 
Divine  inspiration.  Within  this  range  there  can  be 
no  restriction,  or  the  language  of  Scripture  will  have 
ceased  to  be  the  ordinary  speech  of  mankind.  Why 
should  the  liberty  of  a  sacred  writer  to  use  the  full 
resources  of  language  be  restrained  within  narrower 


158  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

limits  than  the  liberty  of  a  profane  writer  ?  The 
broad  principle  must  be  maintained,  that  whatever 
modes  of  expression  are  consistent  in  an  uninspired 
writer  are  equally  consistent  in  an  inspired  one. 

Thus  we  see  the  futility  of  an  objection  some- 
times urged  against  a  belief  in  verbal  inspiration, 
that  modes  of  expression  found  in  Scripture  are 
inconsistent  with  the  majesty  of  a  Divine  Author. 
The  plea  is  only  gained  by  separating  some  one 
detail  in  the  plan  of  revelation  from  the  other  parts 
of  the  same  scheme,  and  then  leaving  out  all  the 
intermediate  links,  and  bringing  into  sharp  contrast 
the  individual  word  or  phrase  and  the  omniscient 
Mind  which  framed  the  entire  plan.  The  objection 
is  mainly  urged  against  the  hyperboles  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  as  when,  for  instance,  it  is  predicted  that  the 
seed  of  Abraham  should  be  as  the  sand  upon  the 
seashore  for  multitude.  It  is  much  the  same  as  if 
a  man  objected,  on  a  similar  ground,  against  the 
gift  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab. 
These  men  worked  under  a  special  inspiration, 
directed  not  alone  to  the  quality  of  the  workman- 
ship, but  to  the  correspondence  of  the  work  to  the 
divinely-given  pattern.  How  absurd,  it  might  be 
said,  to  suppose  that  God  gave  his  Spirit  to  Beza- 
leel in  order  to  enable  him  to  carve  a  pomegranate 
or  make  a  candlestick.  Let  the  whole  be  consid- 
ered together,  and  it  is  not  absurd,  for  the  entire 
tabernacle  was  a  visible  prophecy  of  no  ordinary 
grandeur,  and  the  little  details  were  but  the  essen- 
tial conditions  of  the  whole  design.  A  similar  argu- 
ment might  be  used  with  regard  to  Samson,  if  rev- 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT.  159 

erence  to  the  inspiring  Spirit  did  not  teach  ns  cau-( 
tion  in  coupling  his  immediate  inspiration  with  the 
minor  acts  of  the  Israelitish  champion,  such  as  tying 
together  the  tails  of  the  foxes,  or  eating  honey  out 
of  the  jaw  of  a  dead  lion.  Doubtless  God's  Spirit 
did  really  move  Samson  to  these  very  acts ;  for  the 
difference  between  great  and  little  which  impresses 
our  minds  can  really  have  no  place  in  the  mind  of 
God.  Samson  was  raised  up  for  a  special  work  in 
delivering  Israel,  and  of  that  work  each  little  detail 
was  an  inseparable  part.  Thus  it  is  in  the  present 
case.  God  has  been  pleased  to  give  a  revelation 
through  human  language;  and  of  this  human  lan- 
guage figures  of  speech  constitute  an  inseparable 
part.  We  must  learn  to  follow  principle  with  great- 
er decision  than  is  ordinarily  the  case.  When  we 
have  found  a  truth,  let  us  not  shrink  from  accepting 
it,  and  from  following  it  out  to  its  full  legitimate 
results. 

The  Divine  element  in  Scripture  is,  therefore,  to 
be  maintained  in  consonance  with  its  human  ele- 
ment. It  is  not  to  be  so  understood  as  to  destroy 
the  peculiarities  of  the  individual  writers,  the  prop- 
erties of  human  thought,  or  the  characteristics  of 
human  language.  All  these  are  essential  to  the 
human  element,  and  must  therefore  be  maintained 
in  their  utmost  integrity  and  freedom. 


160  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 


CHAPTER   X. 

TIIK  DIVINE  ELEMENT  OF  SCRIPTURE  IN  ITS 
RELATION   TO   THE    HUMAN. 

God's  Part  in  the  Composition  of  Scripture  to  be  maintained  in  all 
Particulars  Essential  to  Divine  Agency — The  Selection  of  the 
Sailed  Writers,  and  their  Education  for  their  Work — The  Sub- 
ject-matter of  their  Writings  communicated,  verified,  select- 
ed— Intelligent  Comprehension  of  their  own  Writings  on  the 
Part  of  the  Inspired  Authors,  with  its  Limitations  and  Excep- 
tions— The  Language  of  Scripture,  and  its  Importance — A 
Revelation  from  God  to  the  Prophets  not  Identical  with  the 
Communication  of  Revealed  Truth  from  the  Prophets  to  us — 
What  the  Accurate  Transmission  of  Truth  involves — The  Abso- 
lute Truth  of  Scripture  Inseparable  from  Divine  Agency — The 
Relation  of  the  two  Elements,  that  of  Superior  and  Inferior. 

The  principle  already  applied  to  the  adjustment 
of  the  human  element  in  Scripture  must  equally  be 
applied  to  the  Divine.  Whatever  is  characteristic 
of  Divine  action  must  be  maintained,  and  only 
modified,  on  points  nonessential,  by  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  human  intellect  and  will.  It  has  been 
shown  that  the  Divine  element  must  not  be  allowed 
to  swallow  up  the  human  :  it  must  now  be  shown 
that  the  human  must  not  be  allowed  to  derogate 
from  the  Divine. 

It  must  not  be  said  that  because  the  mode  of 
conception  or  expression  in  Scripture  is  character- 
istic of  man,  that  therefore  it  cannot  be  inspired. 
The  human  and  the  Divine  elements  exist  together, 
and  Die  existence  of  the  one  is  consequently  no  dis- 


THE  DIVINE  ELEMENT.  161 

proof  of  the  existence  of  the  other.  As  on  the  one 
side  every  essential  of  the  human  is  to  be  main- 
tained in  its  union  with  the  Divine,  so  on  the  other 
side  every  essential  of  the  Divine  is  to  be  main- 
tained in  union  with  the  human. 

I.  The  authoritative  character  of  the  Scriptures, 
as  being  a  formal  communication  from  God  to  his 
creatures,  is  not  lessened  by  the  employment  of 
human  instruments  as  the  channel  of  conveyance. 
Not  only  is  the  will  conveyed  the  will  of  God,  but 
the  manner  of  its  conveyance — the  times,  places, 
and  persons — the  literary  structure  and  doctrinal 
proportions  of  the  revelation — were  planned  by  his 
sovereign  wisdom,  and  executed  under  the  super- 
vision of  his  omniscience.  In  pursuance  of  his  own 
eternal  plan  he  selected  the  men  by  whose  means 
he  would  reveal  himself,  living  at  such  an  especial 
period,  placed  under  such  peculiar  circumstances, 
endowed  with  such  definite  gifts  of  intellect  and 
qualities  of  heart,  as  were  accordant  with  his  pur- 
poses. Thus  he  selected  Moses  to  be  his  agent,  not 
in  the  full  flush,  of  his  manhood  and  vigor  of  his 
courage,  but  tempered  and  matured  by  age,  and 
sobered  by  experience.  "Come  now,  therefore, 
and  I  will  send  thee  unto  Pharaoh,"  Exod.  3  :  10, 
was  the  charge  laid  upon  him  against  his  will  by 
the  God  of  his  forefathers.  Samuel  was  established 
from  his  childhood  to  be  a  prophet  of  the  Lord. 
David  was  taken  from  the  sheepfolds.  Isaiah  re- 
ceived his  commission  in  a  special  vision  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord.  Jeremiah  was  warned  by  God 
himself:  "Before  I  formed  thee  in  the  belly  I  knew 


1G2  GOD'S  WOED  TVKITTEN. 

thcc ;  and  before  thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the  womb 
I  sanctified  thee,  arid  I  ordained  thee  a  prophet 
unto  the  nations."  Jer.  1 : 5.  The  vision  of  God 
by  the  river  of  Chebar  prepared  Ezekiel  the  priest 
for  his  prophetic  office.  Daniel  was  the  "  man 
greatly  beloved  "of  God.  Dan.  10:11.  "  The  Lord 
took"  Amos  "as  he  followed  the  flock."  Amos 
7  :  15.  Jonah  accomplished  his  mission  against 
Nineveh  under  the  immediate  compulsion  of  a  chas- 
tising Providence.  The  apostles  were  chosen  by 
Christ :  the  latest  of  them,  as  one  born  out  of  due 
time,  was  "  separated  from  his  mother's  womb." 
Gal.  1 :  15. 

Thus  the  writers  of  the  Scriptures  were  specially 
selected  for  their  work.  They  were  not  taken  at 
haphazard,  but  immediately  chosen ;  and  it  cannot 
be  doubted  that  the  choice  involved  the  special 
adaptation  of  their  constitutional  gifts  and  qualities 
to  the  work  they  were  called  to  do.  As  an  earthly 
architect  selects  his  subordinate  agents  with  direct 
reference  to  their  special  qualifications,  so  the  sa- 
cred writers  were  in  the  hands  of  God  but  as  clay 
in  the  hands  of  the  potter.  He  called  them  into 
existence,  gave  them  their  special  faculties,  ordained 
their  place  and  circumstances,  and  then  employed 
them,  each  to  do  his  special  part  in  that  general 
scheme  of  a  revelation,  the  whole  order  and  purpose 
of  which  was  known  to  the  mind  of  God  alone. 

It  is  farther  evident  that  God  provided  for  his 
chosen  instruments  a  special  training,  alike  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  religious.  The  forty  years'  ban- 
ishment of  Moses,  the  military  experience  of  Joshua, 


THE  DIVINE  ELEMENT.  163 

the  education  of  Samuel  under  aged  Eli,  the  adven- 
turous youth  and  enterprising  manhood  of  David, 
the  visions  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel,  the 
early  trials  and  training  of  Daniel,  constituted  their 
preparatory  discipline  for  their  subsequent  minis- 
tries. In  the  history  of  St.  Paul  this  adaptation  of 
the  early  experience  to  the  particular  work  subse- 
quently intrusted  to  him,  is  especially  remarkable. 
His  early  life,  his  associations,  his  education,  his 
own  religious  struggles,  his  fanatical  attachment  to 
the  law  of  his  fathers,  and  the  mode  of  his  conver- 
sion, bear  palpably  upon  them  the  signet  of  an 
overruling  Providence.  They  equally  combined  to 
give  intensity  to  his  natural  force  of  genius,  depth 
to  his  religious  experience,  definite  direction  to  his 
teaching,  and  influence  to  his  personal  example. 

The  God  who  gave  the  sacred  writers  their 
work,  first  fitted  them  for  it.  The  language  pro- 
phetically applied  by  Isaiah  to  our  Lord  may  be 
used  to  describe  the  prophetic  office  in  general, 
and  is  indeed  used  by  the  writer  primarily  of  him- 
self. "  He  hath  made  nry  mouth  as  a  sharp  sword ; 
in  the  shadow  of  his  hand  hath  he  hid  me  ;  he  made 
me  a  polished  shaft."  Isa.  49  :  2.  In  these  matters 
the  human  qualities  of  the  writers  so  little  inter- 
fered with  the  Divine  power  and  authority  of  the 
ultimate  author  of  the  Kevelation,  that  they  formed 
the  material  which  they  moulded  and  the  instru- 
ments through  which  they  were  declared. 

II.  The  same  harmonious  suitability  exists  in 
the  further  action  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  conveying 
to  the  human  instrument  the  knowledge  of  the  will 


164  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  purposes  of  God.  Here  the  subject-matter  of 
the  revelation  divides  itself  into  two  parts.  On  the 
one  side  is  the  knowledge  lying  wholly  above  the 
reach  of  the  unassisted  human  faculties;  and  on 
the  other  the  knowledge  lying  within  it.  The 
teaching  of  Scripture  falling  under  the  first  head, 
that,  namely,  relative  to  the  nature  of  God  and  of 
unseen  things,  to  the  history  of  the  past  and  the 
prospects  of  the  future,  and  to  the  purposes  of  t]^e 
Divine  mind  towards  mankind,  can  only  have  been 
known  to  the  writers  through  an  immediate  revela- 
tion, "Who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord?  or 
who  hath  been  his  counsellor  ?"  Rom.  11  :  34. 
Inspiration  here  includes  the  whole  communication 
of  the  truth  to  be  conveyed  to  the  mind  of  the 
earthly  writer. 

In  regard  to  the  second  head,  much  information 
must  have  been  naturally  acquired  through  the 
ordinary  processes  of  experience  and  observation 
prior  to  any  action  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  Neverthe- 
less the  sphere  of  inspiration  remains  here  as  clear 
and  specific  as  elsewhere.  It  would  act  in  two 
directions.  In  the  first  place  it  would  complete  and 
authenticate  the  information  already  possessed,  and 
supplement  it  on  points  where  personal  knowledge 
must  necessarily  have  been  wanting.  For  instance, 
Moses  must  have  possessed  a  personal  acquaintance 
with  a  large  number  of  facts  relative  to  the  exodus, 
but  he  has  recorded  others  with  which  he  could 
have  had  no  immediate  connection,  and  which  he 
could  only  have  known  through  the  testimony  of 
other  men.     I  do  not  allude  to  the  early  history  of 


THE  DIVINE  ELEMENT.  165 

Genesis,  which  belongs  properly  to  the  class  of 
things  natnrallv  unknown  and  immediately  reveal- 
ed; but  I  allude  to  such  facts  as  those  relative  to 
Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  and  to  the  narrative 
of  Balaam  and  Balak.  Moreover  we  find  in  Scrip- 
ture not  alone  a  narrative  of  men's  acts,  but  an 
explanation  of  their  motives,  and  these  could  not 
be  known  save  to  the  Searcher  of  hearts.  Exodus 
14  :  5 ;  Numb.  14  :  2-4 ;  2  Kings  2  :  17.  The  same 
remark  applies  with  still  greater  force  to  the  actions 
recorded  of  God  himself,  an  element  very  largely 
and  jtt'oniinently  pervading  the  whole  of  Scripture  ; 
for  in  imputing  motives  and  acts  to  God,  the  writer 
must  either  have  guessed  them  out  of  his  own 
imagination,  or  have  learned  them  from  God  him- 
self. In  the  first  case  the  narrative  would  possess 
no  higher  character  than  a  human  fiction,  which  we 
have  already  seen  that  it  is  not.  The  knowledge  of 
them  must  have  been  communicated  by  God  him- 
self. In  regard,  therefore,  to  matters  falling  within 
the  range  of  possible  human  knowledge,  inspiration 
acted  in  completing,  correcting,  and  verifying  infor- 
mation which  was  or  might  have  been  otherwise 
possessed. 

But  it  occupied  also  a  further  sphere  in  direct- 
ing what  portions  of  the  facts  should  be  recorded 
and  what  should  not.  Facts  may  be  in  themselves 
exceedingly  trivial,  and  yet  may  have  very  impor- 
tant bearing  on  some  special  form  of  religious  temp- 
tation. An  instance  of  this  is  found  in  2  Timothy 
4  :  13,  a  favorite  quotation  on  the  part  of  those  who 
object  to  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  word.     The 


1G6  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

subject  will  only  be  slightly  alluded  to  here,  because 
an  admirable  answer  will  be  found  in  Prof.  Gaus- 
sen's  "  Theopneustia."  His  vindication  serves  to 
illustrate  the  principle  that  inspiration  was  exer- 
cised in  directing  what  should  be  recorded  and  what 
not;  but  it  by  no  means  exhausts  the  teaching  of 
the  passage  in  question;  for,  in  addition  to  the 
touching  picture  presented  of  the  apostle's  loneli- 
ness and  bodily  privations,  we  have  the  farther 
illustration  how  completely  the  inspired  apostles 
were  men  like  ourselves.  There  is  great  religious 
danger  in  conceiving  of  them  as  men  of  another 
mould,  and  by  natural  constitution  of  a  more  heroic 
type  than  ourselves — thus  depriving  ourselves  of  the 
comforts  of  their  experience  and  the  force  of  their 
example.  With  what  vividness  is  the  danger  met 
by  the  simple  portrait  of  the  man  so  preoccupied  as 
to  have  forgotten  his  cloak  and  papers,  and  subse- 
quently distressed  by  their  absence.  It  identifies 
the  great  apostle  by  a  single  vivid  touch  with  our 
ordinary  human  nature  and  its  familiar  wants  and 
weaknesses. 

But  this  function  of  inspiration  extends  not 
alone  to  the  selection  of  individual  acts  to  be  re- 
corded, but  to  considerable  passages,  and  even  to 
the  construction  of  entire  books.  This  has  been 
frequently  forgotten,  and  as  a  result  men  have  fallen 
into  mistakes  which  would  be  ludicrous  were  it  not 
for  the  gravity  of  the  subject  and  the  unhappy  effects 
flowing  from  the  misapprehension.  For  instance, 
God  has  been  charged  with  uttering  sentiments  in 
the  book  of  Job  formally  condemned  in  the  very 


THE  DIVINE  ELEMENT.  107 

same  book  as  not  being  in  accordance  with  God's 
mind,  Is  not,  then,  the  book  of  Job  an  inspired 
book?  Certainly;  but  the  inspiration  covers  the 
accuracy  of  the  account,  not  the  justice  of  the  sen- 
timenfa^Jt  is  true,  indeed^lEsit  three  passages 
from  this  book  are  quoted  in  the  New  Testament; 
but  these  passages  derive  authority  not  from  Eli- 
phaz  the  speaker,  but  from  the  inspired  apostle  who 
quotes  and  applies  them.  For  of  Eliphaz  in  gen- 
eral, in  common  with  Bildad  and  Zophar,  we  have 
God's  immediate  condemnation:  "My  wrath  is  kin- 
dled against  thee,  and  against  thy  two  friends,  for 
ye  have  not  spoken  of  me  the  thing  that  is  right." 
Job  42  : 7.  It  would  therefore  be  as  unjust  to 
charge  upon  inspiration  the  sentiments  it  records 
to  have  been  uttered,  as  it  would  be  to  make  a  hu- 
man historian  responsible  for  all  the  bad  deeds  and 
unrighteous  sentiments  recorded  in  his  history. 

In  all  the  historical  and  biographical  portions 
of  Scripture  the  relation  of  God  towards  the  mat- 
ters recorded  is  exactly  the  relation  of  an  historian 
towards  the  materials  of  his  history;  his  respon- 
sibility is  for  the  relation,  and  not  for  the  things 
related 

How  natural  this  province  of  inspiration  is,  may 
be  seen  by  the  analogy  of  human  things.  Suppose 
a  superior,  not  employing  an  amanuensis,  for  that 
would  suggest  the  erroneous  idea  of  a  mechanical  dic- 
tation, but  superintending  the  composition  of  a  narra- 
tive; what  more  natural  than  that  his  suggestions 
and  corrections  should  produce  the  concurrence  of 
two  minds  in  one  and  the  same  composition  ? 


1G8  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

This  subject  must  not  be  dismissed  without  a 
further  caution.  The  communication  of  truth  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  sacred  writer  appears  to  have 
been  the  ordinary  rule.  But,  as  if  presciently  to 
guard  against  the  supposition  that  the  Divine  ele- 
ment in  Scripture  closes  with  this,  some  notable 
exceptions  have  been  recorded.  That  the  prophets 
did  ordinarily  understand  the  messages  they  em- 
bodied in  words,  and  were  as  far  as  possible  remov- 
ed from  mere  machines  bereft  of  intelligent  con- 
sciousness of  what  they  were  doing,  is  evident  from 
the  effect  produced  by  the  message  in  certain  speci- 
fied cases  upon  the  feelings  of  the  writer.  Thus 
Ezekiel,  divinely  warned  of  the  unbelief  and  oppo- 
sition of  Israel,  and  amazed  at  the  picture  of  human 
sin  and  Divine  vengeance  presented  to  him,  "re- 
mained astonished  for  seven  days."  Ezek.  3:15. 
Thus  Daniel  was  "  astonished"  at  the  vision  by  the 
river  Ulai.  Dan.  7  :  27.  In  the  same  way,  Habak- 
kuk  "  trembled  "  at  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine  in- 
dignation against  his  people,  and  gave  utterance  to 
his  own  unshaken  confidence  in  God  amid  the  sor- 
est national  calamities  :  "  Yet  will  I  rejoice  in  the 
Lord."  Hab.  3  :  18.  There  was,  therefore,  an  in- 
telligent apprehension  of  the  messages  conveyed ; 
not,  perhaps,  to  the  full  height  of  their  meaning, 
but  as  to  their  general  character.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  are  warned  that  the  prophets  themselves 
did  not  always  understand  the  entire  purport  of 
their  own  revelation.  St.  Peter  asserts  distinctly 
that  the  prophets  "inquired  and  searched  diligently 
what  or  what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  of  Christ 


THE   DIVINE   ELEMENT.  169 

which  was  in  them  did  signify."  1  Peter  1:11.  He 
also  teaches  that  "no  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is 
of  any  private  interpretation."  Why?  Because 
"the  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of 
man,  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost."     2  Peter  1 :  21. 

Here,  as  in  other  instances,  both  sides  of  the 
teaching  must  be  combined  into  one  common  truth. 
On  the  one  side,  we  are  taught  that  inspiration  was 
no  mechanical  influence,  acting  solely  from  the  out- 
side, as  if  it  were  possible  to  conceive  that  the  liv- 
ing Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  life,  its  Lord  and  Giver, 
could  pass  over  a  living  man's  intellect  and  heart 
without  stirring  it  into  activity  to  the  utmost  capa- 
city of  its  finite  powers.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
are  warned  against  the  opposite  extreme  of  meas- 
uring the  meaning  of  the  Divine  message  by  the 
meaning  given  to  it  by  the  human  messenger.  Not 
what  the  man  intended,  but  what  God  intended, 
should  be  the  object  of  our  inquiry.  As  if  to  make 
this  lesson  as  distinct  as  possible,  we  have  not  only 
the  prediction  of  Caiaphas,  but  we  have  the  inspir- 
ed explanation  of  it.  As  understood  by  the  wicked 
speaker,  his  words  were  an  iniquitous  encourage- 
ment to  murder.  As  overruled  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
they  conveyed  an  interpretation  of  the  profound 
mystery  of  the  atonement.  "This  spake  he  not  of 
himself,  but  being  high  priest  that  year,  he  prophe- 
sied that  Jesus  should  die  for  (imep)  that  nation,  and 
not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  also  he  should 
gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God  that 
were  scattered  abroad."     John  11:51. 


170  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

III.  This  undeniable  instance  of  a  verbal  inspira- 
tion suitably  introduces  the  farther  element  of  Di- 
vine authority  underlying  the  patent  human  agency. 
God  not  only  chose  the  writers,  prepared  and  dis- 
ciplined the  writers,  supplemented  and  verified  their 
information,  but  he  also  acted  concurrently  with 
them  in  its  conveyance.  Leaving  in  all  their  natu- 
ral peculiarity  the  human  elements  of  style  and 
manner  of  thought  and  expression,  or  rather  em- 
ploying them  as  his  foreintended  instruments,  the 
Spirit  of  God  yet  so  far  concurred  as  to  secure  that 
the  truth  should  be  accurately  conveyed  and  ex- 
pressed just  as  God  willed  it  to  be  expressed.  This 
will  be  seen  if  we  consider  that  the  existence  of  a 
divinely  given  knowledge  in  the  minds  of  certain 
men  could  be  of  no  possible  good  to  any  one  else 
but  themselves,  except  so  far  as  it  is  made  known. 
It  is,  therefore,  as  important  to  know  whether  the 
message  has  been  accurately  given  by  the  sacred 
writers  to  us,  as  it  is  to  know  that  it  was  accurately 
given  by  God  to  the  sacred  writers.  The  introduc- 
tion of  error,  whether  in  the  process  of  transmission 
from  God  to  them,  or  in  the  process  of  transmission 
from  them  to  us,  would  be  equally  fatal.  We  stand 
at  the  farther  link  of  the  chain ;  and  if  a  failure  ex- 
ists in  any  part  of  it,  it  matters  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  in  what  particular  link  it  exists.  If  the 
chain  snaps  next  to  the  hand  that  holds  it,  it  is  the 
same  to  us  as  if  it  snapped  at  the  farther  end.  It 
must  be  secure  throughout,  or  it  cannot  be  secure 
at  all.  If  the  Divine  will  has  not  been  accurately 
conveyed  to  us,  then  we  have  not  got  a  revelation. 


THE  DIVINE  ELEMENT.  171 

The  sacred  writers  had  it,  and  they  have  given  us 
their  conceptions  of  it;  but  as  these  conceptions  are 
simply  their  own,  and  as  we  are  specifically  taught 
that  they  did  not  fully  understand  their  own  predic- 
tions, an  indefinite  element  of  contingency  and  doubt 
is  introduced  fatal  to  all  absolute  certainty  and 
truth.  For  what  then,  if  truth  comes  to  us  in  this 
shape  and  in  this  only,  becomes  of  the  lofty  claims 
advanced  by  Scripture,  and  of  the  tremendous  issues 
of  life  and  death  asserted  to  hang  upon  our  accept- 
ance or  rejection  of  it  ?  Surely  we  must  be  judged 
by  the  revelation  as  it  is  received  by  ourselves,  not 
as  it  was  received  by  men,  the  latest  of  whom  died 
nearly  two  thousand  years  ago.  But  if  the  Divine 
authority  stopped  with  the  transmission  of  the  rev- 
elation to  the  writers,  and  did  not  extend  to  its 
transmission  from  the  writers  to  us,  then  we  have 
only  the  human  description  of  a  Divine  revelation, 
and  not  the  Divine  revelation  itself. 

But  the  whole  question  becomes  so  indefinitely 
complicated  and  embarrassed  by  limiting  the  Divine 
agency  in  this  manner,  that  it  becomes  impossible 
to  frame  any  consistent  conceptions  of  inspiration 
at  all.  If  it  had  been  possible  to  bring  the  human 
mind  in  any  way  into  immediate  contact  with  the 
inspired  minds  of  the  prophets  and  apostles,  without 
the  intervention  of  any  secondary  instrument,  then 
we  might  have  received  the  Divine  revelation  with 
no  farther  sources  of  error  than  are  inherent  in  any 
case  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  weaknesses  of 
man  ;  but  of  such  a  possibility  the  wildest  visionary 
does  not  dream.     What  they  received  from  God  we 


172  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

can  only  receive  from  them  through  the  vehicle  of 
words,  and  nothing  can  alter  the  fact  that  the  ve- 
racity of  the  truth  transmitted  must  be  equivalent, 
neither  more  nor  less,  to  the  accuracy  of  the  words 
which  convey  it. 

But,  further,  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the 
scriptural  writers  were  inspired  men.  Is  it  meant 
that  they  were  inspired  only  to  receive,  and  not  in- 
spired to  communicate?  If  so,  then,  so  far  as  the  act 
of  putting  into  words  the  teaching  of  God  is  concern- 
ed, they  were  not  inspired.  The  inspiration  ceased 
with  the  act  contemplated  in  it;  that  is,  with  the 
receiving  of  truth  from  God.  So  far  as  concerns 
their  writings,  they  were  inspired  men  no  longer; 
they  were,  therefore,  ordinary  men,  and  no  more — 
liable  to  ordinary  human  weaknesses  and  mistakes. 
If  it  be  replied  that  they  were  inspired  men  all 
through,  in  the  act  of  transmitting  to  us  as  well  as 
in  the  act  of  receiving  from  God,  then  this  is  all  we 
contend  for;  then  the  inspiration  extended  to  their 
writing,  and  the  authority  of  God  is  coextensive 
with  the  inspiration;  that  is,  it  extends  to  the  wri- 
ting. Accordingly,  it  is  of  the  writing,  not  of  the 
men  who  wrote,  that  inspiration  is  directly  affirm- 
ed. The  specific  word  occurs  but  once,  and  then 
is  applied  to  the  thing,  not  the  persons.  The  Scrip- 
ture is  God-inspired ;  but  the  Scripture  is  not  the 
sense.  The  soul  possesses  no  orthography.  The 
words  expressing  the  sense  are  written,  but  not  the 
sense  separate  from  the  words.  Unless,  therefore, 
by  the  inspiration  of  the  writing  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  mere  act  of  moving  the  pen,  the  inspira- 


THE  DIVINE   ELEMENT.  173 

tion  must  be  the  inspiration  of  the  words,  since  the 
words,  and  the  words  alone,  are  written.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible  undeniably  suggests  an  immense 
presumption  in  favor  of  the  inspiration  of  the  words. 
The  reiterated  use  of  such  phrases  as  "thus  saith 
the  Lord,"  "the  word  of  the  Lord,"  or  in  the  plural, 
"the  words  of  the  Lord,"  as  the  term  is  employed 
with  great  frequency  in  the  New  Testament,  when 
the  plural  word  cannot  possibly  refer  to  any  thing 
but  to  the  separate  words  making  up  the  one  com- 
munication— can  bear  no  other  meaning  than  that 
of  a  verbal  inspiration,  if  the  language  has  a  mean- 
ing at  all.  Whatever  reason  we  have  for  believing 
the  Bible  to  contain  a  true  revelation  from  God,  we 
have  equally  for  believing  in  the  inspiration  of  the 
Avoids  which  convey  it,  and  through  which  alone  it 
is  known  to  us. 

The  human  element,  therefore,  is  not  so  to  be 
understood  as  to  derogate  from  the  action  of  God 
in  his  word,  as  selecting,  preparing,  and  teaching 
the  writers,  and  by  a  concurrent  act  protecting  the 
transmission  of  the  message  from  verbal  inaccuracy 
and  mistakes. 

IV.  But,  further,  the  Divine  authority  carries 
with  it  the  guarantee  of  unerring  veracity.  Scrip- 
ture is  the  product  of  two  constituent  elements,  the 
Divine  and  the  human.  But  it  is  formed,  not  by 
their  fusion  together  in  a  third  something,  neither 
Divine  nor  human,  but  by  their  coincidence  and  co- 
operation. Hence  it  follows,  as  already  stated,  that 
both  the  elements  are  to  be  maintained  complete. 
This  can  only  be  done  by  retaining  what  is  essen- 


171  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

tial  on  cither  side — all,  without  reserve,  necessary 
to  the  existence  of  the  authority  of  God  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  intelligent  instrumentality  of  man  upon 
the  other.  It  follows  that  the  human  element  does 
not  derogate  from  the  absolute  truth  of  Scripture. 
When  the  words  "human  element"  are  used  in  the 
sense  of  necessarily  involving  in  the  composition  of 
Scripture  the  mistakes  characteristic  of  secular  coin- 
positions — in  other  words,  as  implying  that,  because 
there  is  a  human  element  in  the  word  of  God,  there 
must  also  be  mistakes  in  it — their  use  involves  not 
only  ambiguity  of  language,  but  a  fallacy  of  thought. 
Man  is  as  clearly  fallible  as  God  is  clearly  infallible. 
But  to  be  fallible,  or  capable  of  making  mistakes, 
is  not  the  same  as  making  mistakes;  the  liability 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  act.  To  be  wrong- 
is  a  separable  accident,  not  an  inseparable  property 
of  human  nature.  If  it  was  of  the  essence  of  hu- 
manity, then  man  never  could  be  right,  but  must  be 
universally  and  invariably  wrong  ;  but  man  is  some- 
times right,  sometimes  wrong.  Many  human  nar- 
ratives are  wholly  true  ;  a  thing  may  be  wholly  hu- 
man, and  yet  not  untrue.  To  be  wrong,  therefore, 
is  not  essential  to  the  human  element ;  and  the  fact 
that  the  Scriptures  were  written  by  human  instru- 
ments does  not  prove  the  existence  of  mistakes  in 
them ;  all  it  proves  is,  that  in  the  absence  of  any 
other  influence  to  prevent  it,  there  might  be  mis- 
takes in  them.  But  this  corrective  influence  is  sup- 
plied by  the  Divine  element;  for  to  be  right  is  an 
essential  of  the  Divine  nature.  It  is  not  even  con- 
ceivable that  the  Omniscient  should  be  capable  of 


THE   DIVINE  ELEMENT.  175 

ignorance,  the  All-wise  capable  of  mistake,  the  All- 
holy  capable  of  fraud.  What  is  not  essential  to  the 
agency  of  man  may  therefore  be  omitted,  without 
affecting  the  true  human  element.  What  is  essen- 
tial to  the  agency  of  God  must  be  maintained,  or 
else  the  perfection  of  the  Divine  element  is  lost. 
There  is  no  reason  on  the  human  side  why  there 
should  be  errors  in  Scripture  ;  but  there  is  the  most 
conclusive  reason  on  the  Divine  side  why  there 
should  not  be.  The  Divine  authority,  therefore, 
carries  with  it  the  Divine  veracity. 

Thus  the  two  elements  are  each  maintained  in 
their  fulness  and  integrity.  How  they  were  united 
we  can  no  more  explain  than  we  can  explain  the 
union  of  the  Godhead  and  the  manhood  in  the  one 
inseparable  person  of  Christ.  But  we  assert  the 
fact  on  the  authority  of  a  revelation  bearing  a  Divine 
stamp  on  its  very  front.  If  we  cannot  explain  how 
it  can  be,  neither  is  any  one  competent  to  say  that 
it  cannot  be,  since  our  human  experience  supplies 
repeated  analogies  to  prove  its  possibility.  We 
maintain  the  fact  of  the  union,  without  propound- 
ing any  theory  to  account  for  it.  Both  elements 
exist  together  everywhere.  The  Divine  element 
does  not  destroy  the  human  individualities  of  char- 
acter, thought,  style,  and  language  ;  the  human  ele- 
ment does  not  derogate  from  the  authority  of  a  rev- 
elation from  God,  or  necessitate  the  admixture  of 
error  with  the  all-embracing  knowledge  and  uner- 
ring wisdom  of  the  Omniscient.  Every  part  of  the 
Bible  is  human,  and  every  part  is  Divine.  There 
are  two  concurrent  elements,  and  the  result  is  the 


176  GOD'S  WORD  WEITTEN. 

word  of  God,  that  "liveth  and  abidetli  for  ever." 
1  Pet,  1 :  23. 

But  while  there  is  concurrence  between  the  two, 
there  is  likewise  a  manifest  subordination.  The 
spring  of  all  the  revelation,  as  the  spring  of  all  life, 
is  in  God,  and  man  is  but  his  instrument.  No  other 
relation  than  this  is  conceivable,  when  the  Creator 
and  the  creature  are  brought  together  in  a  commu- 
nity of  action.  In  entering  upon  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  it  is  with  the  human  element  that  we 
are  brought  first  into  contact;  for  this  is  the  link 
of  the  chain  nearest  to  ourselves.  The  earthly 
messenger,  with  his  earthly  language  and  personal 
peculiarities,  is  the  first  object  presented  to  us. 
But  we  must  not  stop  with  him,  but  must  trace  the 
revelation  upwards,  through  its  secondaiy  instru- 
ments, to  its  originating  cause.  The  voice  is  no 
longer  human,  but  Divine.  We  pass  into  the  imme- 
diate presence  of  Him  whose  sovereignty  invests 
the  written  word  with  authority,  and  whose  wisdom 
bestows  upon  it  the  attribute  of  perfect  and  unmin- 
gled  truth. 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  177 


CHAPTER    XI. 

WHAT   IS  TRUTH? 

What  is  meant  by  saying  that  Scripture  is  True  or  Untrue— Adjec- 
tives of  Intensity  and  their  Meaning,  "  Strictly  True,"  "Liter- 
ally True" — Adjectives  of  Quality,  and  the  Ambiguous  Sense 
in  which  they  are  used,  "Logically  True,"  "Scientifically 
True "' — Nature  of  Truth  the  Same  in  all  Cases— The  Objective 
Fact  or  Facts — The  Subjective  Account  of  It— The  Intention 
of  the  Narrator — The  Selection  of  the  Language  involves  no 
Change  in  the  Truth  of  the  Fact — Logic  and  its  Forms — The 
Pauline  Epistles — The  Professed  Character  and  Object  of  the 
Scriptures. 

Misaitrehexsioxs  arising  from  the  ambiguous 
use  of  the  terms  "Divine  element"  and  "human 
element,"  have  been  corrected  in  the  previous  chap- 
ter. It  has  been  shown  that  the  two  are  concur- 
rent constituents  of  Scripture,  and  that  they  must 
be  maintained  everywhere  distinct,  and  nowhere 
separate. 

Another  class  of  misapprehensions  is  next  to 
be  considered.  These  arise  from  an  uncertain  use 
of  the  word  "  truth,"  and  from  the  addition  of  epi- 
thets to  the  word,  as  if  there  were  degrees  of  truth, 
or  kinds  and  qualities  of  truth,  and  as  if  truth  were 
not  itself  invariably  and  universally  the  same. 

Two  classes  of  expressions  require  to  be  consid- 
ered. The  one  consists  of  adjectives  of  intensity 
and  force,  as  in  the  phrases,  "  strictly  true,"  "  sim- 
ply true,"  "  absolutely  true,"  "  literally  true."  The 
other  arises  from  the  use  of  adjectives  of  quality,  as, 

8* 


178  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

"logically  true,"  "scientifically  true,"  "  historically 
true."  These  are  generally  employed  to  express 
doubt  in  the  veracity  of  Scripture,  and  in  its  iner- 
rability,  or  freedom  from  all  error.  The  expres- 
sions are  themselves  highly  ambiguous.  Upon  a 
theory  of  universal  doubt,  they  might  be  consist- 
ently employed ;  but  such  a  theory  finds  its  refuta- 
tion in  the  common  sense  and  conscience  of  man- 
kind. On  any  other  theory,  they  can  only  serve  to 
conceal  the  real  nature  of  the  objection  they  are 
intended  to  convey,  and  its  actual  bearing  upon  the 
authority  of  Scripture. 

In  the  first  place,  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
confound  what  is  meant  by  truth  with  the  word 
truths,  as  commonly  used.  Truths  are  simply 
statements  that  are  true.  There  may,  therefore,  be 
a  great  variety  of  truths,  for  the}T  may  be  found  in 
every  branch  of  human  knowledge.  There  may  be 
historical  truths,  scientific  truths,  moral  truths. 
The  common  word  "  truths  "  is  applied  to  them  be- 
cause they  have  this  common  quality — that  they  are 
true.  The  question  now  to  be  settled  is,  What  is 
that  common  quality  we  express  by  the  word 
"truth?" 

Truth  is  the  correspondence  of  a  representation 
with  the  thing  represented.  This  correspondence 
must  be  measured  by  the  avowed  purpose  of  the 
representation.  Thus  the  term  may  be  applied  to 
a  picture  in  two  ways.  The  painting  may  be  true 
to  some  reality  of  actual  life,  or  it  may  only  be  true 
to  an  ideal  existing  in  the  mind  of  the  painter.  A 
portrait  is  an  instance  of  the  first  kind.     TVhat  is 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  179 

called  a  fancy  landscape,  or  a  grotesque  representa- 
tion of  fairies,  sprites,  and  ghosts,  are  instances  of 
the  second  kind.  It  would  be  very  unjust  to  meas- 
ure the  ideal  picture  by  the  standard  applied  to 
the  portrait.  It  would  be  vain,  for  instance,  to 
object  to  it,  that  it  was  not  true  to  the  reality,  or 
that  such  forms  as  are  presented  on  a  canvas  can 
never  have  existed.  The  answer  would  be,  that  the 
painting  was  never  intended  to  be  true  to  an  exist- 
ing reality,  but  only  to  represent  forms  existing  in 
the  fancy  of  the  painter.  To  the  intention  of  the 
artist  the  picture  would  be  true,  and  only  untrue  to 
the  blundering  misapprehension  of  the  critic.  The 
professed  purpose  of  the  representation  must,  there- 
fore, be  taken  into  account  in  judging  of  its  accu- 
racy or  inaccuracy. 

When,  therefore,  it  is  said  that  truth  is  the  cor- 
respondence of  a  representation  to  the  thing  repre- 
sented, the  statement  involves  three  things:  (1)  It 
involves  the  actual  existence  of  the  things  to  be 
represented.  (2)  It  involves  the  accuracy  of  the 
representation.  (3)  It  involves  the  intention  on  the 
part  of  the  agent  to  represent  certain  things,  and 
no  others.  A  painter  does  not  intend  his  picture 
to  represent  any  thing  or  every  thing  a  critic  chooses 
to  make  it;  but  he  intends  it  to  represent  certain 
defined  objects,  and  by  its  correspondence  with  their 
reality,  its  truth  or  otherwise  must  be  measured. 
No  opinion  can  be  formed  on  this  point  without 
knowing  the  reality  as  it  exists  on  one  side,  and 
keeping  in  view  the  avowed  purpose  of  the  repre- 
sentation on  the  other. 


180  GOD'S  WOBD  WRITTEN. 

This  is  as  true  of  a  representation  made  by  words 
to  the  understanding,  as  of  a  representation  made 
by  form  and  color  to  the  eye.  The  familiar  expe- 
rience of  ordinary  life  may  readily  suggest  an  illus- 
tration. Let  it  be  supposed  that  some  event  has 
taken  place,  a  disastrous  accident,  a  great  public 
spectacle,  a  hotly  contested  battle.  Let  it  be  sup- 
posed that  some  person  is  giving  to  another  a  nar- 
ration of  the  event.  Such  a  circumstance  may  occur 
every  day.  Let  it  be  recalled,  and  a  very  little  con- 
sideration will  show  that  belief  or  disbelief  in  the 
story  involves  all  the  three  conditions  abovenamed, 
namely,  the  occurrence  of  the  facts,  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  narrative  with  the  facts,  and  the  inten- 
tion of  the  narrator. 

If  the  facts  never  occurred,  the  story  could  not 
be  said  to  be  either  true  or  untrue,  since  it  would 
become  a  mere  fiction.  If  the  facts  took  place,  and 
the  narration  corresponds  with  the  occurrence,  then 
it  would  be  true ;  if  it  does  not  correspond,  it  will 
not  be  true.  But  this  correspondence  must  be 
measured  by  the  professed  object  of  the  narrator. 
Suppose  a  person  to  object  that  the  story  was  not 
true  because  it  omitted  some  of  the  facts,  the  objec- 
tion would  only  hold  good  if  the  narrator  professed 
to  tell  all  the  facts ;  otherwise  it  would  still  be  true, 
although  a  part  of  the  facts  were  omitted  because 
they  did  not  fall  in  with  the  design  of  the  narrator. 
For  instance,  a  man  has  lost  his  life  in  some  fatal 
accident.  It  is  the  object  of  an  eye-witness  to  nar- 
rate to  his  relatives  the  mode  in  which  he  perished. 
Would  his  narration  be  untrue  unless  he  included 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  181 

in  his  tale  the  entire  series  of  facts  connected  with 
the  whole  of  the  accident  ?  Thus,  whenever  truth 
is  in  question,  the  question  involves  the  reality  of 
the  thing  narrated,  the  correspondence  of  the  nar- 
ration, and  the  purpose  of  the  narrator. 

In  discussing  whether  Scripture  is  true  or  not 
true,  all  these  conditions  must  be  kept  in  mind.  We 
can  only  say  that  it  is  untrue  when,  from  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  realities,  we  can  compare  the  Divine 
narrative  with  them,  and  ascertain  the  correspon- 
dence or  otherwise.  In  regard  to  roairy  facts  of 
Scripture,  such  as  relate  to  the  nature  of  God,  his 
actions  and  will,  and  the  unseen  and  future  world, 
we  have  no  independent  knowledge  of  our  own,  and 
therefore  no  means  of  measurement.  But  in  regard 
to  many  other  facts  of  Scripture,  we  possess  suffi- 
cient independent  information  to  judge,  and  are 
therefore  able  *  positively  to  affirm  the  truth  or 
untruth  of  the  sacred  narrative.  The  question  will 
be,  not  whether  all  the  facts  of  the  case  have  been 
accurately  recorded,  but  only  whether  that  portion 
of  them  has  been  accurately  recorded  which  it  was 
the  purpose  of  the  sacred  writers  to  record. 

Here,  therefore,  we  find  the  answer  to  the  skep- 
tical question  whether  there  is  such  a  thing  as  truth, 
or  whether  any  thing  is  true  which  men  believe  to 
be  true.  Thus  one  school  of  infidels  have  said  that 
the  Bible  is  true ;  only  meaning  by  the  words  that 
it  accurately  describes  the  religious  belief  of  man- 
kind at  different  periods  of  the  world.  Others  have 
said  that  "  every  truth  is  a  falsehood,"  which  is  an 
absurdity ;  for  what  is  false  cannot  be  a  truth.    The 


182  GOD;S  WOKD  WRITTEN. 

words  can  really  mean  no  more  than  that  what  one 
man  believes  to  be  true,  some  other  man  believes  to 
be  false. 

Is  there  nothing  absolutely  true — nothing  abso- 
lutely false?  The  definition  already  given  supplies 
an  answer.  Truth  is  the  correspondence  of  the 
representation  with  the  thing  represented.  Do 
things  exist  independently  of  our  conception  of 
them,  or  do  they  only  exist  because  we  conceive 
them,  and  cease  to  exist  when  we  cease  to  conceive 
of  them  ?  The  latter  would  be  an  absurdity  indig- 
nantly rejected  by  men's  plain  sense.  Every  instinct 
of  reason  and  conscience  decides  otherwise.  We 
owe  allegiance  to  a  real  God;  we  live  in  a  real 
world ;  we  form  part  of  a  real  system  ;  we  are  affect- 
ed by  real  events;  we  are  real  ourselves,  with  real 
bodies  and  souls;  and  there  is  a  real  eternity  for 
which  to  provide,  however  idly  men  -may  dream  of 
such  matters.  But  if  there  are  existing  things  to 
be  represented,  then  it  must  be  possible  that  the 
representation  should  correspond  or  should  not 
correspond  with  the  reality  of  the  thing.  In  the 
one  case  it  is  true;  in  the  other  it  is  false.  Things 
are  not,  therefore,  what  men  make  them,  true  to 
one  man  and  false  to  another,  but  they  exist  in 
themselves  fixed  as  the  Creator;  "by  whom  are  all 
things,  and  for  whom  are  all  things."     Heb.  2  :  10. 

There  can  therefore  be  no  degrees  in  truth. 
Either  the  description  corresponds,  or  it  does  not. 
When  we  meet  with  the  phrases  "partly  true"  or 
"perfectly  true,"  "simply  true,"  "entirely  true," 
we  must  understand  that  they  refer  to  degrees  of 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  183 

extension  or  application,  not  to  degrees  of  truth. 
By  partly  true,  we  mean  that  part  of  it  is  true  and 
part  untrue,  not  that  the  same  part  is  in  one  sense 
true  and  another  untrue.  By  "perfectly  true," 
"simply  true,"  "entirely  true,"  we  mean  that  the 
whole  is  true  without  exception,  and  that  every 
part  of  the  representation  corresponds  to  the  thing 
represented.  With  regard  to  each  individual  part 
there  can  be  no  degrees,  no  gradations;  it  is  either 
true  or  it  is  not  true. 

The  same  rule  should  be  applied  to  the  second 
class  of  phrases — logically  true,  scientifically  true, 
historically  true.  Their  only  proper  meaning  is, 
that  those  parts  of  the  Bible  referring  to  logical 
arguments,  to  matters  of  science,  or  points  of  his- 
tory, are  true  or  not  true  as  the  speaker  may  intend 
to  say.  But  this  is  not  the  sense  in  which  they  are 
ordinarily  used.  They  are  employed  to  disguise 
the  naked  alternatives  of  truth  or  falsehood  alone 
open  to  our  adoption,  and  to  suggest  that  there  are 
different  kinds  of  truth,  so  that  the  Bible  may  be  in 
one  sense  true,  and  yet  in  another  sense  untrue. 
They  are  employed  to  soothe  the  sense  of  reverence 
towards  the  word  of  God,  and  to  put  it  off  its  guard. 
Their  use  disposes  men  to  give  up  their  belief  in 
the  truth  of  the  Bible  without  experiencing  a  shock 
to  faith,  or  perceiving  the  full  meaning  of  the  charge 
they  are  bringing  upon  its  Divine  Author.  The 
interests  of  Christianity  demand  that  the  question 
should  be  fearlessly  faced.  The  authority  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures  must  stand  or  fall  with  their 
truth.     We  cannot  lose  the  one  and  yet  in  any  de- 


184  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

grec  maintain  the  other.  If  their  contents  are  not 
true,  they  cannot  be  the  infallible  word  of  God.  If 
they  are  true,  no  false  distinctions  must  be  allowed 
to  detract  from  their  full  and  plenary  authority  over 
the  human  intellect  and  conscience.  If  they  are 
true  at  all,  they  are  logically  true,  scientifically 
true,  historically  true — in  every  sense  true. 

For  these  words  denote  no  variety  of  truth,  but 
only  variety  in  the  mode  of  its  statement,  and  in 
the  character  of  the  language  chosen  to  express  it. 
This  language  necessarily  varies  with  the  stand- 
point from  which  the  subject  is  regarded.  An 
object  may  be  one  in  itself,  and  yet  may  be  regard- 
ed in  many  relations  and  from  many  points  of  view. 
The  sun  is  but  one;  but  it  may  be  regarded  with 
reference  to  its  office  as  light-bearer  to  our  world, 
or  to  the  influence  of  its  genial  warmth  in  quick- 
ening nature,  or  to  the  solar  system  of  which  it  is 
the  centre,  or  in  its  relation  to  the  other  portions  of 
the  universe,  or  with  reference  to  its  own  substance, 
or  with  regard  to  its  office  of  irritating  into  motion 
the  luminous  ether,  or  as  to  the  chemical  qualities 
of  its  rays,  or  as  to  their  component  parts,  or  as  to 
their  relation  to  color,  or  in  other  points  which  an 
ingenious  mind  ma}'  easily  suggest.  The  one  object 
may  thus  enter  into  the  inquiries  of  half  a  dozen 
different  branches  of  naturalscience,  and  each  one 
of  them  would  have  its  special  point  of  view,  and  a 
technical  language  of  its  own.  To  combine  all  these 
modes  of  conceiving,  and  consequently  of  speaking, 
into  one,  would  be  impossible.  It  is  necess.ny, 
therefore,  to  select  the  aspect  in  which  it  is  to  be 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  185 

regarded ;  whether  it  shall  be  viewed  with  the  eyes 
of  an  ordinary  observer,  or  of  a  poet,  or  of  a  philos- 
opher, or  of  an  astronomer,  or  of  a  geographer,  or 
of  a  chemist. 

Yet  all  this  variety  of  view  would  make  no  dif- 
ference in  the  object  itself;  the  difference  would  be 
only  in  the  thinker  and  speaker,  and  the  common 
phenomena  would  remain  absolutely  unaltered  by 
the  verbal  differences  of  description.  The  statement 
might  be  equally  true  in  any  case,  and  the  varieties 
of  description  would  not  be  degrees  of  truth,  but 
only  diversities  in  the  mode  of  presenting  it.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  groups  of  objects  as  of  single 
objects,  of  trains  of  thought,  and  of  processes  of 
argument.  No  subject  can  be  submitted  to  the 
action  of  the  human  mind  which  does  not  admit  of 
being  viewed  in  different  relations,  and  consequently 
of  being  described  in  different  forms  of  words,  with- 
out compromising  in  any  of  them  the  perfect  corre- 
spondence of  the  representation  with  the  thing  rep- 
resented on  that  side  of  it  which  alone  enters  into 
the  purpose  of  the  writer. 

With  this  plain  principle  applied  to  the  phrases 
now  under  discussion,  it  will  appear  that  the  truth 
of  any  statement  is  independent  of  the  mode  of  its 
expression  ;  and  that,  however  widely  the  expres- 
sion may  vary,  the  truth  remains  the  same  so  long- 
as  the  representation  continues  to  correspond  with 
the  thing  represented.  The  use  of  one  class  of  terms 
in  preference  to  another  varies  the  form  of  the  state- 
ment, but  not  the  truth  of  it.  When  it  is  objected 
that  one  part  of  Scripture  is  not  logically  true,  an- 


186  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

other  not  scientifically  true,  another  not  historically 
true,  the  phrases  mean  no  more  than  that  they  are 
not  couched  in  the  technical  forms  of  the  logician, 
expressed  in  the  technical  language  of  the  man  of 
science,  or  framed  after  the  technical  methods  of  the 
historian. 

The  first  two  of  these  phrases  require  a  few  ad- 
ditional remarks  ;  the  last  will  need  a  more  extended 
examination,  and  will  consequently  be  postponed  for 
another  chapter. 

1.  It  has  been  objected  that  some  of  the  reason- 
ings in  the  Pauline  epistles  are  not  "logically  true." 
But  logic  has  no  special  kind  of  truth  peculiar  to 
itself.  It  simply  professes  to  give  an  account  of  the 
necessary  laws  of  thought — laws  invariably  observed 
in  all  correct  reasoning,  however  unconsciously  they 
may  be  used  by  the  reasoner  himself.  If  reasoning- 
be  correct,  it  follows  these  laws ;  if  it  does  not  fol- 
fow  these  laws,  it  is  not  correct.  All  reasoning- 
consists  of  premises  and  a  conclusion,  the  premises 
being  what  are  popularly  called  the  reasons  on 
which  we  rest  the  conclusion.  If  the  conclusion 
properly  follows  from  the  premises,  then  it  is  logi- 
cally correct,  although  the  special  terms  and  pecu- 
liar forms  adopted  by  logicians  may  be  wholly 
absent. 

Hence  an  argument  may  be  stated  in  many  dif- 
ferent ways,  and  may  be  amplified  in  this  part  of  it 
or  in  that,  according  to  the  mental  habits  and  ten- 
dencies of  the  arguer.  Or  parts  of  the  train  of  rea- 
soning may  be  omitted,  and  it  may  be  left  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  reader  to  supply  it.    Or  the  mode 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  187 

of  arguing  may  deal  in  abrupt  transitions  and  com- 
plicated connections,  or  connections  apparently  com- 
plicated, because  Ave  do  not  hold  the  explanatory 
thread  of  reference  which  existed  in  the  hands  of 
the  original  writers  and  readers.  Or  it  may  admit 
of  rhetorical  interruptions,  vehement  appeals,  im- 
passioned outbursts,  or  lofty  description.  These 
peculiarities  belong  wholly  to  the  minds  of  the  wri- 
ters, and  they  are  perfectly  familiar  to  us  in  all 
branches  of  human  knowledge.  No  two  men  will 
state  an  argument  in  precisely  the  same  way,  be- 
cause their  mental  gifts  are  not  precisely  similar ; 
yet  the  argument  itself,  when  reduced  to  logical 
form,  may  be  identical  and  as  absolutely  conclusive 
in  the  one  form  as  in  the  other,  each  form  being 
adapted  to  some  special  tendency  of  mind. 

Now  all  these  peculiarities  are  to  be  found  in 
different  parts  of  the  Bible,  and  many  of  them  are 
very  prominent  in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul.  They 
belong  to  the  human  element  of  Scripture,  for  it 
has  been  already  shown  that  the  personal  individu- 
alities of  the  writers  are  essential  to  it,  and  only  so 
far  belong  to  the  Divine  side  as  God  saw  fit  to  use 
the  agency  of  men  gifted  with  these  peculiar  ten- 
dencies of  thought  and  utterance.  To  have  reduced 
the  whole  of  Scripture  into  a  series  of  digested  syl- 
logisms would  have  been  to  make  it  unintelligible 
to  the  mass  of  mankind,  would  have  destroyed  its 
power  and  sublimity,  would  have  rendered  the  wri- 
tings of  inspired  men  wholly  dissimilar  to  the  wri- 
tings of  uninspired  men,  and  would  have  absolutely 
contradicted  in  this  one  sphere  of  God's  action  the 


188  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

principles  of  moral  discipline  maintained  by  him  in 
every  other  sphere  without  exception.  Technical 
precision  is  happily  as  absent  from  Scripture  as  is 
loose  inconclusiveness.  Logical  truth  is  as  univer- 
sally present  as  logical  forms  are  universally  absent. 
2.  It  has  been  objected  that  parts  of  Scripture 
are  not  "  scientifically  true."  The  stock  objection 
of  infidelity  to  the  standing  still  of  the  sun  in  the 
days  of  Joshua  is  still  urged  by  modern  writers,  and 
may  therefore  be  used  as  an  illustration,  although 
it  has  been  refuted  even  to  weariness.  I  do  not  dis- 
cuss the  possibility  of  the  miracle,  for  that  belongs 
to  a  different  branch  of  inquiry  altogether,  but  only 
the  language  in  which  it  is  described,  and  the  ob- 
jection brought  against  the  inspiration  of  Scripture 
from  its  alleged  want  of  scientific  accuracy.  That 
the  language  is  that  of  the  ordinary  spectator,  and 
not  that  of  the  man  of  science,  is  most  true;  but  it 
is  the  language  of  the  ordinary  spectator  of  every 
age,  and  no  more  peculiar  to  the  fourteenth  century 
before  Christ  than  to  the  nineteenth  century  after 
Christ.  An  uninspired  writer  recording  the  fact  in 
our  own  day  would  use  exactly  the  language  used 
by  Joshua.  The  event  is  described  from  the  opti- 
cal point  of  view,  as  it  appeared  to  the  eyes  of  the 
spectators.  But  this  mode  of  description  is  as  accu- 
rate in  this  point  of  view  as  the  most  precise  lan- 
guage of  the  astronomer  would  be  in  his  point  of 
view.  The  truth  or  otherwise  of  the  fact  does  not 
come  into  question,  and  must  be  decided  on  per- 
fectly different  grounds,  namely,  as  a  matter  of  evi- 
dence.    The   only  possible   question  that  can  be 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?  189 

raised  is  whether  Joshua's  mode  of  describing  the 
miracle  is  the  best.  When  men  are  writing  with  a 
view  to  ordinary  life,  they  use  the  language  of  or- 
dinary life,  just  as  Joshua  did.  I  open  a  modern 
almanac,  and  I  find  it  stated  that  on  the  14th  day 
of  May  the  sun  will  rise  at  4h.  13m.  Is  not  the 
statement  true,  and  scientifically  true,  since  science 
attests  its  accuracy?  And  yet  it  is  not  expressed 
in  scientific  language.  In  the  same  way,  and  for 
precisely  the  same  reasons,  those  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture which  speak  of  the  phenomena  of  the  natural 
world  are  not  written  in  scientific  language,  and 
yet  they  may  be  true,  and  scientifically  true,  never- 
theless. 

The  language  used  in  any  book,  whether  inspired 
or  uninspired,  must  ever  be  selected  with  reference 
to  the  object  contemplated  by  the  book  and  to  the 
readers  for  whom  it  is  intended.  To  write  a  poem 
or  a  history  in  the  language  of  science  would  be 
ridiculous.  Equally  ridiculous  is  it  to  object  to  the 
inspiration  of  Scripture,  that  it  is  expressed  in  lan- 
guage appropriate  to  tbe  times,  circumstances,  and 
personal  peculiarities  alike  of  the  authors  and  of 
the  readers.  Would  it  be  expected  that  God  should 
employ  human  language  as  the  channel  of  a  revela- 
tion for  mankind,  and  yet  so  employ  it  as  to  make 
it  absurd?  We  need  to  watch  against  being  mis- 
led by  our  own  descriptions  of  parts  of  Scripture 
when  we  speak  of  some  portions  as  poetry,  some  as 
histoiy,  some  as  biography.  All  these  and  other 
portions  are  but  parts  of  one  great  plan,  and  them- 
selves share  in  the  characteristics  of  the  plan.     To 


190  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

take  separate  parts,  and  judge  them  separately  from 
the  design  of  the  whole,  is  only  to  mistake  the  con- 
ditions of  the  case.  The  Bible  at  large  is  not  a 
poem,  nor  is  it  a  work  of  science,  nor  is  it  a  history, 
nor  is  it  a  manual  of  biography ;  and  therefore  it 
cannot  be  measured  by  the  rules  applicable  to  com- 
positions belonging  to  the  sphere  of  poetry,  or  sci- 
ence, or  history,  or  biography.  The  Bible  is  a  rev- 
elation given  for  the  declared  purpose  of  making- 
men  wise  unto  salvation.  In  constructing  the  whole 
marvellous  book,  God  has  used  poetry,  and  history, 
and  science,  and  biography,  just  so  far  as  he  saw 
each  of  them  to  be  appropriate  to  the  contemplated 
object  and  harmonious  with  the  general  design  of 
the  whole.  To  measure  the  whole  by  its  parts,  and 
not  the  parts  by  the  whole,  would  be  a  strange  per- 
version indeed  of  our  ordinary  modes  of  arguing. 
The  Scriptures  constitute  a  revelation  adapted  in 
its  separate  stages  to  the  ages  when  it  was  given, 
and  in  its  totality,  adapted  to  universal  humankind. 
We  may  venture  to  apply  to  it  the  test  which  our 
Lord  applied  to  the  Sabbath,  and  to  say  that  the 
Bible  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Bible. 
Its  Divine  congruity  with  human  habits  and  meth- 
ods of  speech  is  not  less  remarkable  in  the  diversi- 
ties entering  into  its  human  element,  than  in  the 
overshadowing  authority  inherent  in  the  Divine. 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH.  101 


CHAPTER   XII. 

HISTORICAL  TRUTH. 

History  distinguished  from  Biography — The  Partial  Character  of 
all  History — Its  Diverse  Branches  and  Objects — A  Human 
Transcript  of  the  Divine  Knowledge  Impossible — Events  and 
Their  Causes — Principles  and  Their  Evidences — I.  "What  His- 
torical Truth  does  not  require — II.  What  it  does  require — The 
Genealogies  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke — Historical  Truth 
not  involved  in  Their  Reconciliation — The  Object  and  Charac- 
ter of  the  Genealogies. 

"  The  books  of  Moses  are  not  historically  true/' 
So  says  the  modern  objector.  "What  then  is  histor- 
ical truth,  and  in  what  respects  does  it  differ  from 
airy  other  truth  ?  I  reply  that  it  differs  in  no  re- 
spect. The  words  are  but  a  euphemism  to  disarm 
suspicion,  and  to  soften  down  by  gentle  words  what 
might  otherwise  appear  as  a  harsh  denial  of  the  ve- 
racity of  Holy  Scripture. 

History  constitutes  a  separate  branch  of  human 
literature.  It  may  therefore  have  methods  of  its 
own,  and  a  mode  of  speaking  belonging  to  itself. 
This  is  not  the  case  at  present ;  for  what  professes 
to  be  historical  criticism,  is  as  yet  little  more  than 
the  arbitrary  opinion  of  individual  men,  guided  by 
no  settled  principles  and  working  by  no  recognized 
rules.  But  let  us  suppose  that  historical  science 
should  acquire  a  shape  as  distinctive  as  logic,  or 
astronomy,  or  geology,  it  would  in  that  case  acquire 


192  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

a  language  and  form  of  its  own,  in  the  same  way  as 
these  have  done.  In  such  a  case,  the  phrase  histor- 
ically true  might  be  used,  as  the  phrases  logically 
true  or  scientifically  true  are  used,  to  express  one 
particular  mode  of  viewing  truth  and  one  particu- 
lar mode  of  expressing  it.  And  the  objection,  the 
Bible  is  not  historically  true,  would  mean,  its  state- 
ments are  not  couched  in  the  historical  form  ;  or 
if  not  this,  it  would  have  no  definite  meaning.  But 
such  an  objection  is  really  no  objection  at  all. 
Scripture  no  more  professes  to  be  a  human  history, 
or  to  be  a  formal  history  at  all,  than  it  professes  to 
be  a  book  of  human  poetry  or  a  compilation  of  hu- 
man biography.  It  contains  history,  and  poetry, 
and  biography,  but  only  as  parts  of  something 
higher  than  them  all.  Scripture  professes  to  be 
a  Divine  revelation  of  saving  truth,  conveying  a 
knowledge  of  the  facts  of  the  past  only  so  far  as 
they  are  necessary  to  the  duties  of  the  present  and 
the  prospects  of  the  future.  As  it  bears  a  character 
different  from  all  other  books,  so  it  must  be  meas- 
ured by  a  different  standard ;  as  it  springs  from  the 
highest  of  all  authority,  it  cannot  be  subject  to  laws 
inferior  to  itself. 

History  consists  of  a  record  of  the  past,  with 
this  limitation,  that  it  concerns  itself  primarily  with 
the  fortunes  of  some  society  or  body  of  men,  and 
subordinately  only  with  individual  men.  The  lat- 
ter is  the  province  of  biography.  History  occupies 
the  wider  circle  of  groups  of  men.  Hence  it  was 
said  by  Dr.  Arnold,  History  "  is  the  biography  of  a 
society  :  it  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  history  at 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH.  193 

all,  but  simply  biography,  unless  it  finds  in  the  per- 
sons who  are  its  subjects  something  of  a  common 
purpose,  the  accomplishment  of  which  is  the  object 
of  their  common  life.  History  is  to  the  common 
life  of  many  what  biography  is  to  the  life  of  an 
individual." 

History  will  therefore  consist  of  two  parts,  the 
explanation  of  causes  and  the  statement  of  facts. 
Its  highest  object  is,  to  record  the  great  events  of 
the  past,  and  to  trace  their  producing  causes.  The 
mere  outward  circumstances  of  mankind  will  consti- 
tute its  least  important  portion  ;  the  mental,  moral, 
and  religious  circumstances  its  most  important  por- 
tion, since  the  outward  events  of  the  world  have  ever 
been  shaped  by  its  moral  influences  and  conditions. 
A  mere  disjointed  accumulation  of  detailed  facts 
will  not  constitute  a  history.  It  is  necessary  that 
they  should  be  regarded  in  their  mutual  order  and 
relation  towards  each  other,  and  be  presented,  not 
only  in  their  true  succession  of  time,  but  in  their 
proper  sequence  of  cause  and  effect.  The  past  has 
not  consisted  of  a  series  of  abrupt  disconnected  and 
isolated  facts,  but  of  a  series  of  events  where  each 
one  has  been  as  closely  united  to  what  went  before 
and  what  has  followed  after,  as  are  the  links  of  an 
unbroken  chain.  The  record  of  the  moral  causes 
that  have  operated  on  the  fortunes  of  mankind  is 
the  highest  purpose  of  history.  But  these  causes 
can  only  be  explained  by  a  knowledge  of  facts  in 
detail;  and  history  therefore  deals,  in  the  second 
place,  with  their  investigation,  analysis,  and  accu- 
rate narration.     But  these  facts  are  the  proofs  or 


194  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

evidences  of  the  causes,  and  must  therefore  corre- 
spond with  them.  It  is  the  object  of  the  historian 
to  record,  not  all  the  facts  of  the  past — for  it  will  be 
seen  that  such  a  record  would  be  simply  impossi- 
ble— but  those  classes  of  facts  which  elucidate  the 
principles  of  the  history,  and  belong  to  that  spe- 
cial side  of  it  which  it  is  his  object  to  narrate.  The 
selection  of  the  facts  will  consequently  follow  the 
professed  purpose  of  the  record.  Such  as  are  the 
causes  the  historian  desires  to  explain,  such  will  be 
the  facts  selected  to  prove  their  existence  and  illus- 
trate their  action. 

Now  a  historian  may  write  from  any  one  of 
many  standpoints,  or  for  one  of  many  purposes. 
In  each  case  the  facts  narrated  will  correspond  with 
them.  He  may  chronicle  the  history  of  some  par- 
ticular race  or  of  some  special  tribe,  and  the  origin, 
progress,  and  downfall  of  that  particular  body  will 
constitute  the  limits  of  his  history.  Or  he  may 
enlarge  the  area  of  his  labors,  and  deal  with  groups 
of  nations ;  as,  for  instance,  Mr.  Alison  has  done  in 
his  "  History  of  Europe."  On  this  wider  sphere, 
many  persons  and  many  events  which  stood  prom- 
inent on  the  narrower  stage  of  one  particular  peo- 
ple will  naturally  disappear  amid  the  broader  inter- 
ests, and  another  set  of  persons  and  events  take 
their  place.  On  the  other  hand,  new  sets  of  facts 
altogether  will  be  introduced,  bearing  on  the  mu- 
tual relations  of  separate  nations  towards  each  other, 
their  affinities  and  conflicts,  and  the  international 
interests  of  the  larger  whole  constituting  in  this 
case  the  primary  object  of  the  historian.     Or,  again, 


HISTOEICAL  TRUTH.  195 

the  writer  may  take  a  bolder  flight,  and  select  the 
history  of  mankind  in  general  as  his  theme.  Here 
again,  as  the  point  of  view  is  varied,  so  will  the 
topics  be  varied  and  the  correlative  facts  be  varied 
likewise.  He  will  deal  less  with  national  peculiari- 
ties of  race,  constitution,  country,  and  climate,  and 
more  with  facts,  and  qualities,  and  moral  influences 
belonging  to  all  men  in  common.  The  very  char- 
acter and  moral  color  of  his  picture  will  be  varied 
by  the  variation  of  his  standpoint.  Perhaps  at  the 
very  period  when  the  historian  of  some  particular 
nation  would  have  to  dip  his  pen  in  the  gloom}' 
hues  of  national  disaster,  the  historian  of  mankind 
at  large  may  depict  a  condition  of  advancing  civili- 
zation and  progressive  prosperity. 

Still  wider  diversities  of  object  and  standpoint 
in  the  work  of  the  historian  may  arise  in  ofher  direc- 
tions. Thus  he  may  propose  to  himself  to  write  the 
history  of  literature ;  and  then  the  literary  men  of 
the  world,  its  great  thinkers  and  writers,  stand  out 
at  once  into  the  foreground.  Or  he  may  wish  to 
write  the  history  of  human  thought ;  and  then  its 
various  schools  of  philosophy  will  occupy  the  page, 
and  the  reader  will  pass  into  a  class  of  subjects  so 
different  from  what  he  finds  in  the  pages  of  the  or- 
dinary historian,  that  it  is  like  stepping  into  a  new 
world.  Or  again,  he  may  undertake  to  record  the 
history  of  the  industrial  arts  and  manufactures  of 
mankind ;  and  here  a  new  set  of  words  and  phrases, 
a  new  order  of  facts,  and  a  new  series  of  events  and 
circumstances,  will  supply  the  materials  of  his  story. 
Or  he  may  take  upon  himself  the  more  intricate 


196  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  difficult  task  of  writing  the  history  of  its  scien- 
tific discoveries  in  the  various  but  closely-related 
provinces  of  astronomy,  geology,  chemistry,  botany, 
mineralogy,  etc.  Or  his  sphere  may  be  a  more  fa- 
miliar one  ;  and  he  may  deal  with  the  domestic  and 
social  habits  of  mankind,  widely  varying  as  they 
have  done  in  different  lands  and  climates,  and  during 
different  stages  of  civilization.  Still,  when  these 
have  been  enumerated,  the  varieties  of  human  his- 
tory are  not  nearly  exhausted.  Their  possible  num- 
ber almost  defies  enumeration.  The  history  of  gov- 
ernment, of  religion,  of  representative  institutions, 
of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  of  laws,  of  architecture,  of 
trade  and  commerce,  of  wars,  of  military  and  naval 
affairs,  are  further  instances  of  the  almost  endless 
diversity  of  object  and  standpoint  from  which  hu- 
man affairs  may  be  regarded. 

These  varieties  are  not  imaginary.  Actual  his- 
tories exist  under  each  of  these  separate  heads. 
Grote's  "History  of  Greece,"  Gibbon's  "Decline 
and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  Rollin's  "Uni- 
versal History,"  Pritchard's  "Physical  History 
of  Man,"  are  illustrations.  Hallam's  "  History  of 
Literature,"  Brucker's  "  History  of  Philosophy," 
WhewelTs  "History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences," 
Merryweather's  "Domestic  Habits  of  the  Middle 
Ages,"  Delolme  on  "  The  Constitution,"  Neander's 
"Ecclesiastical  History,"  Ferguson's  "Handbook 
of  Architecture,"  Napier's  "History  of  the  Penin- 
sular War,"  James'  "  Naval  History  of  Great  Brit- 
ain," or  Kinglake's  "  Crimea,"  may  be  enumerated, 
and  the  list  might  be  indefinitely  increased. 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH.  197 

But  without  entering  on  a  wider  range,  seven- 
teen different  kinds  of  history  have  been  enumer- 
ated, sharply  distinguished  from  each  other  in  the 
classes  of  facts  recorded  and  the  character  of  the 
language  employed.  If  these  are  even  cursorily 
compared,  it  will  be  found  (a)  that  whole  classes  of 
facts  are  included  in  one  history,  and  omitted  in 
another;  (/>)  that  where  the  same  classes  of  facts 
are  recorded,  the  details  widely  differ;  in  regard  to 
particular  events,  circumstances  will  be  found  to  be 
recorded  with  the  utmost  particular^  in  one  case, 
which  are  passed  over  in  total  silence  in  another; 
(c)  that  the  same  facts  are  stated  in  different  pro- 
portions, the  stress  lying  from  one  point  of  view  on 
facts  which,  from  another  point  of  view,  become 
wholly  unimportant ;  (d)  instances  are  found  of 
facts  recorded  by  different  writers  which  appear  to 
be  directly  contradictory  to  each  other,  but  which 
a  third  fact  incidentally  noticed  proves  to  be  per- 
fectly consistent  and  harmonious.  In  some  instan- 
ces the  contrasts  presented  by  different  histories  to 
each  other  are  so  strong  as  to  call  into  play  a  dif- 
ferent set  of  faculties  on  the  part  of  the  reader,  and 
to  constitute  a  totally  distinct  line  of  study. 

Yet  a  moment's  reflection  will  show  that  the 
subject-matter  of  all  these  various  histories  is  but 
one  and  the  same  throughout.  Mankind  has  only 
had  one  history,  and  not  a  dozen  different  ones.  It 
has  not  lived  the  same  stage  of  its  existence  over 
and  over  and  over  again.  Its  life  has  been  but  one, 
its  order  of  events  one,  its  progress  one.  It  is  but 
the  same  human  nature  in  the  same  world  viewed 


198  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

from  different  standpoints,  and  from  different  parts 
of  the  united  whole.  The  diversity  is  not  objective 
in  the  history,  but  subjective  in  the  historian.  He 
selects  those  portions  of  the  whole  which  accord 
with  his  particular  object  and  fall  in  with  his  special 
purpose ;  but  in  the  occurrence  the  entire  history  of 
mankind  has  progressed  together,  the  individual 
nations  and  the  collective  whole,  their  literature, 
philosophy,  arts,  science,  habits,  government,  re- 
ligion, laws,  and  commerce,  have  advanced  side  by 
side,  the  distinct  but  inseparable  parts  of  one  ag- 
gregate whole. 

Suppose  therefore  that  some  skeptic  should  take 
his  stand  on  some  one  branch  of  histoiy,  and  mak- 
ing this  the  standard  of  all  other  branches,  should 
object  to  the  credibility  of  all  the  others,  because 
the}'  do  not  harmonize  with  that  one,  he  would  do 
exactly  what  is  done  when  men  object  to  the  ple- 
nary inspiration  of  Scripture  on  the  ground  that  its 
contents  are  not  "historically  true."  The  answer 
is  the  same  in  both  cases,  because  the  mistake 
would  be  the  same.  The  diversity  is  not  in  the 
truth  or  otherwise  of  the  facts,  but  solely  in  the 
mode  of  its  narration.  It  does  not  represent  de- 
grees of  truth,  but  only  varieties  of  the  standpoint 
from  which  it  is  regarded. 

These  considerations  render  it  easy  to  lay  down 
the  conditions  which  historical  truth  does  not  re- 
quire and  which  it  does  require. 

I.  It  does  not  require  (a)  that  no  facts  should 
be  omitted,  since  such  a  condition  would  be  imprac- 
ticable.   In  the  infinite  complexity  of  human  affairs, 


HISTOKICAL  TKUTH.  199 

and  the  variety  of  causes  concurring  to  bring  about 
the  events  of  human  history,  it  is  a  natural  impos- 
sibility that  human  knowledge  should  comprise 
them  all,  or  if  they  were  known,  that  human  under- 
standing should  be  able  to  unravel  them  all.  The 
only  mind  capable  of  knowing  all,  without  omission, 
is  the  mind  of  the  Omniscient.  But  human  history 
is  not  a  mere  transcript  of  the  Divine  mind,  nor 
can  it  be  so.  "  We  cannot  by  an}r  amount  of  re- 
search know  all  that  all  the  successive  millions 
forming  a  community  have  thought,  said,  done,  suf- 
fered, or  seemed;  the  facts  that  we  can  know,  or 
that  knowing  we  can  visibly  take  into  account,  are 
at  least  in  every  case  but  a  miserable  percentage  of 
this  ideal  aggregate.  .  .  .  The  real  question  is,  since 
all  cannot  be  known  and  remembered,  What  is  it 
best  to  know  and  remember?  Since  the  facts  out 
of  which  we  must  construct  our  histories  in  idea 
are  but  a  small  proportion,  a  mere  remaining  shred 
of  that  enormous  intertwined  infinity  of  facts  which 
actually  went  into  the  histories  while  the  web  was 
being  woven,  are  there  any  kinds  or  orders  of  facts 
which  more  than  others  it  is  desirable  for  the  pur- 
poses of  history  to  secure  and  keep  hold  of?"  (En- 
cycl.  Brit.,  art.  History.)  The  mere  omission  ol 
facts  out  of  a  series  is  therefore  no  failure  of  his- 
torical truth.  It  is  open  to  an  objector  to  allege 
that  such  and  such  facts  should  not  have  been 
omitted ;  but  the  mere  fact  of  omission  is  no  ground 
of  objection.  Omission  somewhere  is  inseparable 
from  the  defects  of  the  creatures  to  whom  God  has 
given  the  revelation. 


200  GOD'S  WOED  WRITTEN. 

(h)  Historical  truth  docs  not  require  that  in  sev- 
eral narratives  of  the  same  events  the  facts  record- 
ed should  be  absolutely  identical.  One  part  may 
be  given  and  another  omitted.  Or  the  facts  given 
may  be  viewed  from  different  points,  corresponding 
either  to  the  objects  or  to  the  personal  character  of 
the  narrator.  Such  variations  furnish  a  strong  evi- 
dence of  the  veracity  of  the  writers,  and  not  a  dis- 
proof of  it,  since  they  show  their  independence  of 
each  other,  and  therefore  present  as  many  witnesses 
as  there  are  writers.  These  variations  only  become 
contradictions  when  the  different  statements  are  so 
palpably  opposed  to  each  other,  that  one  and  all 
cannot  equally  be  true.  Thus,  in  regard  to  the  ad- 
mitted variations  in  the  evangelical  narratives  ot 
the  New  Testament,  as,  for  instance,  in  regard  to 
the  blind  men  cured  at  Jericho,  the  skeptic  must 
prove  that  both  accounts  cannot  be  true.  The 
Christian  advocate  has  to  show  that  they  may  both 
be  true.  He  is  not  called  to  prove  any  particular 
mode  in  which  they  are  true.  If  half  a  dozen  con- 
ceivable modes  of  reconciling  them  present  them- 
selves, this  very  variety  only  presents  the  stronger 
disproof  of  the  skeptical  assertion  that  they  cannot 
both  be  true. 

This  may  be  illustrated  by  the  passages  referred 
to.  It  is  objected  that  St.  Matthew  speaks  of  two 
blind  men  who  addressed  our  Lord  as  he  departed 
from  Jericho.  St.  Mark  speaks  only  of  one  at  the 
same  spot;  and  St.  Luke,  of  one  as  our  Lord  "was 
come  nigh  unto  Jericho."  Luke  18  :  35.  Hence  it 
is  argued  that  the  narratives  are  not  "historically 


HISTOEICAL  TRUTH.  201 

true,"  and  therefore  cannot  be  inspired.  We  reply 
that  there  is  no  necessary  contradiction  between 
the  narratives,  and  that  therefore  they  may  all  be 
equally  true.  Mark  mentions  by  name  one  of  the 
two  referred  to  by  St.  Matthew,  and  many  conjec- 
tural reasons  may  be  assigned  for  his  doing  so,  such 
as  that  Bartiimous  was  personally  known  to  St. 
Mark  himself,  or  to  those  into  whose  hands  his  gos- 
pel was  first  placed.  Luke  states  one  blind  man 
to  have  been  healed  as  our  Lord  entered  Jericho, 
and  Matthew  two  to  have  been  healed  as  he  left  it. 
AYe  do  not  know  what  pause  our  Lord  made  in  Jeri- 
cho. AYe  are  told  indeed,  not  only  that  he  passed 
through  Jericho,  but  that  he  "entered  and  passed 
through  it;"  and  the  expression  seems  to  imply  a 
pause  more  or  less.  That  the  words  "passed 
through  "  imply  direction  only,  and  not  continuous 
and  unbroken  movement,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  same  word  is  used  of  journeys  which  could  not 
have  been  accomplished  without  pauses  for  rest 
and  sleep.  Thus  St.  Luke  records  (ch.  17,  ver.  11) 
that  he  "passed  through"  the  midst  of  Samaria  and 
Galilee,  a  journey  occupying  several  days.  If  our 
Lord  made  a  pause  in  Jericho,  what  more  natural 
than  that  the  tidings  of  the  cure  wrought  on  enter- 
ing the  city  should  become  known  throughout  the 
community  of  the  blind  in  Jericho,  and  that  others 
should  have  sought  the  same  help  as  he  left  the 
city,  and  should  have  asked  it  purposely  in  the 
words  which  had  effectually  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  wonder-working  Son  of  David  in  the  case  of 
their  companion.     Or  the  apparent  difficulty  may 

9* 


202  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

be  solved  in  another  direction  altogether,  for  at  the 
time  of  our  Lord  there  existed  two  Jerichos,  the 
ancient  city  and  the  new,  situated  in  proximity  to 
each  other,  and  in  coming  out  of  the  one  our  Lord 
and  his  apostles  would  have  been  drawing  nigh 
unto  the  other.  Thus  variation  is  not  contradic- 
tion. Historical  truth  neither  requires  the  absence 
of  omission  nor  the  absence  of  variation  in  the  nar- 
rative. 

II.  But  it  requires  (a)  that  the  facts  should  have 
taken  place  as  they  are  recorded  to  have  taken 
place ;  that  they  should  be  real  facts  attested  by 
persons  qualified  to  bear  witness  to  their  occur- 
rence ;  (b)  that  the  facts  should  correspond  with 
the  statements  they  are  adduced  to  illustrate,  as 
when  St.  John  states  the  object  of  his  gospel  to  be 
"  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God;  and  that  believing  ye  might  have  life 
through  his  name,"  John  20:31 — where  it  is  in- 
volved that  the  facts  narrated  in  his  gospel  are  suf- 
ficient to  prove  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God  and 
his  atoning  efficacy. 

No  better  illustration  can  perhaps  be  adduced 
of  these  conditions  than  is  afforded  by  the  two  ge- 
nealogies of  Christ.  A  great  deal  of  learned  inge- 
nuity has  been  expended  in  reconciling  them,  and 
at  least  two  hypotheses  have  been  suggested,  either 
of  which  sufficiently  meets  the  facts  of  the  case, 
since,  as  already  said,  the  Christian  apologist  only 
needs  to  show  that  they  may  be  reconciled,  and  not 
to  decide  absolutely  upon  the  mode  of  reconcilia- 
tion.    I  refer  to  the  supposition  that  the  genealogy 


HISTOKICAL  TRUTH.  203 

of  Matthew  contains  our  Lord's  legal  descent 
through  Joseph,  and  the  genealogy  of  Luke  his 
actual  descent  through  Mary,  and  to  the  alterna- 
tive supposition  that  the  one  contains  his  official 
and  the  other  his  personal  genealogy.  The  ques- 
tion is  one  of  very  considerable  interest  to  the  bib- 
lical student,  and  is  especially  valuable  as  leading 
us  to  realize  more  than  we  are  accustomed  to  do, 
the  peculiarities  of  Jewish  genealogy  as  they  sprang 
out  of  the  peculiar  enactments  of  the  Law  and  the 
tribal  divisions  of  the  Hebrew  people.  But  the 
solution  of  an  interesting  problem  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  question  of  the  truth  of  the  gene- 
alogies. This  is  quite  distinct,  and  would  be  wholly 
unaffected  by  our  absolute  inability  to  reconcile  the 
two  accounts,  if  such  an  inability  really  existed. 

AVe  must  view  the  details  with  reference  to  the 
proposition  they  are  intended  to  prove.  This  is  sta- 
ted in  the  first  words  of  St.  Matthew :  "  The  book  of 
the  generation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  David,  the 
son  of  Abraham."  The  proposition  to  be  proved  is 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  lineal  heir  of  David,  as 
David  was  the  lineal  descendant  of  Abraham.  Now, 
supposing  the  facts  to  be  true,  they  undoubtedly 
prove  this,  since  they  trace  an  unbroken  genealogi- 
cal line  from  Abraham  down  to  Christ.  If  the 
names  recorded  by  St.  Matthew  represent  succes- 
sive descent  in  the  same  line,  then  the  proposition 
is  proved.  This  would  not  be  affected  in  the  slight- 
est degree  by  the.  fact  that  the  genealogy  of  St. 
Matthew  is  avowedly  artificial,  that  it  is  so  arranged 
in  an  artificial  form  under  three  divisions  of  fourteen 


204  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

each,  and  that  some  names  have  been  omitted  in 
order  to  bring  it  into  this  shape.  The  use  of  these 
artificial  forms  is  known  to  have  existed  among  the 
Jews  as  a  common  practice,  and  instances  are  fur- 
nished in  the  genealogical  list  of  Philo,  who  divides 
the  generations  from  Adam  to  Moses  into  two  classes 
of  ten  descents,  and  one  of  seven.  A  Samaritan 
poem  arranges  the  descents  of  the  same  period  into 
two  sets  of  ten,  and  for  this  purpose  omits  six  of 
the  least  important  names.  Thus  omission  does  not 
invalidate  the  accuracy  of  the  descent.  For  in- 
stance, in  the  second  list  of  fourteen  given  by  St. 
Matthew,  three  names — Ahaziah,  Joash,  and  Ama- 
ziah — are  omitted  between  Joram  and  Ozias ;  but 
the  omission  of  the  three  intermediate  links  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  Ozias  was  the  lineal  descend- 
ant and  heir  of  Joram,  and  this  is  all  that  the  his- 
torical truth  of  the  genealogy  requires.  Thus,  in 
the  third  list,  Eliakim  is  omitted  between  Josias  and 
Jeconias ;  but  this  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  Jec- 
onias  was  the  lineal  descendant  and  heir  of  Josias. 
It  is  the  fact  of  this  unbroken  descent  by  blood 
which  alone  is  expressed  in  the  technical  phrases 
uniting  the  successive  stages  of  the  descent  to- 
gether. Whether,  in  the  descending  scale  of  St. 
Matthew,  the  expression  employed  be  that  A  begat 
B,  or,  in  the  ascending  scale  of  St.  Luke,  it  be  that 
B  was  the  son  of  A,  the  truth  expressed  is  the  same 
fact  of  lineal  descent,  and  is  wholly  unaffected  by 
the  mode  of  its  expression.  That  this  class  of 
phrases  was  used  with  much  more  latitude  among 
the  Jews  than  it  would  be  used  among  ourselves, 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH.  205 

is  proved  by  a  variety  of  instances.  Tims,  in  the 
Old  Testament  Jehu  is  described  as  the  son  of 
Nimshi,  1  Kings  19  :  16,  whereas  he  was  the  son 
of  Jehoshaphat,  who  was  the  son  of  Nimshi.  The 
special  form  of  speech  employed  must  in  every  case 
be  interpreted  by  its  known  usage.  The  names 
specified  in  the  lists  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke 
lay  in  the  natural  order  of  generation  and  descent, 
and  if  so,  they  prove  what  they  were  intended  to 
prove,  and  the  genealogy  is  historically  true. 

Now  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  an  evidence  to 
impugn  the  fact  of  this  lineal  descent  in  any  one 
case  specified  in  either  genealogy.  The  objections 
raised  by  skeptics  from  an  early  age  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  downwards,  have  been  solely  founded  on 
the  internal  variations  of  the  genealogies  them- 
selves. Into  their  discussion  it  is  not  my  purpose 
to  enter,  because,  however  interesting,  I  regard 
them  solely  as  a  question  for  curiosity.  The  only 
point  with  which  I  concern  myself  is  to  show  thai 
both  genealogies  may  be  true,  and  that  there  is 
nothing  in  their  variations  to  impugn  their  truth. 

The  proposition  which  they  are  employed  to  prove 
is  our  Lord's  lineal  descent,  either  by  natural  or  by 
imputed  filiation.  The  proposition  itself  is  made  in 
order  to  prove  that  the  predicted  marks  of  identity, 
by  which  the  Messiah  of  the  prophets  was  to  be 
recognized,  met  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
Whether  the  two  genealogies  are  both  the  geneal- 
ogies of  Joseph,  or  whether  they  represent  the  one 
a  legal  heirship,  and  the  other  a  natural  descent ; 
or  whether,  thirdly,  the   one  is  the   genealogy  of 


206  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Joseph,  and  tlie  other  the  genealogy  of  Mary — in 
either  case  the  conditions  of  the  question  remain 
the  same.  There  are  two  ends,  so  to  speak,  to  be 
united  by  a  chain  of  descent,  and  these,  too,  cannot 
be  altered.  But  the  chain  of  descent  might  almost 
indefinitely  alter.  For  the  line  of  descent  might 
conceivably  be  traced,  not  only  through  two,  but 
through  half  a  dozen  varying  channels,  yet  the  first 
named  and  the  last  would  remain  the  same,  and  the 
lineal  descent  uniting  them  be  as  close,  and  real, 
and  true,  in  any  one  of  the  six  different  lines  as  in 
any  other  of  them.  When  a  genealogy  extends 
through  such  great  periods  as  the  two  thousand 
years  from  Abraham  to  Christ,  it  must  inevitably 
have  been  divided  into  many  collateral  branches, 
parallel  streams  beginning  at  the  same  fountain- 
head,  and  debouching  into  the  same  estuary.  This 
is  not  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  of  historical  fact. 
Instances  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied,  but 
one  is  as  good  for  the  purpose  as  a  hundred.  The 
lineal  descent  of  Henry  YJLLL,  from  king  John,  may 
be  traced  in  two  perfectly  distinct  lines,  containing 
thirteen  links  in  the  one  case,  and  eleven  in  the 
other,  and  they  do  not  touch  each  other  at  any  in- 
termediate point.  On  the  other  side,  the  descent 
of  James  I.  from  Henry  VII.,  also  traceable  in  two 
lines,  conjoins  five  successions  in  each  line,  and  the 
five  successions  touch  at  two  points,  namely,  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of  Henry 
VII.  The  descent  is  equally  true  in  either  case,  and 
the  truth  would  not  be  affected  by  any  prolongation 
of  the  descent,  so  long  as  each  link  is  connected  by 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH.  207 

descent  or  inheritance  with  the  links  preceding  or 
succeeding.  The  descent  of  our  Lord  from  Abra- 
ham by  lines  of  descent,  converging  at  one  point 
and  diverging  at  another,  is  entirely  consistent  with 
known  experience,  and  therefore  with  historic  credi- 
bility. The  exact  genealogical  tables  which  are 
known  from  Josephus  to  have  been  carefully  kept 
in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  which  perished  at 
the  destruction  of  the  city,  must  necessarily  have 
been  exceedingly  complicated,  and  must  have  ad- 
mitted of  variations  in  one  and  the  same  descent, 
much  more  intricate  and  various  than  are  contained 
in  the  two  evangelical  genealogies.  The  reasons 
which  may  have  guided  the  construction  of  these 
particular  tables  along  one  line  rather  than  an- 
other, may  be  referred  to  considerations  clear  and 
intelligible  to  the  Jews  of  that  day.  But  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  facts,  it  would  be  a  wanton  waste  of 
ingenuity  for  us  to  endeavor  to  supply  them. 

We  must,  however,  bear  in  mind  that  the  pecu- 
liar habits  of  the  Jews,  and  the  reference  of  all  their 
institutions  to  the  coming  of  the  predicted  Messiah, 
must  very  largely  have  increased  the  causes  of  in- 
tricacy existing  in  a  similar  case  among  ourselves. 
Thus  it  was  the  invariable  habit  of  the  Jews  to 
trace  their  genealogies  in  the  male  line ;  and  there- 
fore to  account  the  next  of  kin,  or  the  husband  of  a 
sole  surviving  daughter,  as  standing  in  the  place  of 
a  son.  The  whole  system  had  reference  to  the  in- 
defeasible tenure  of  the  land,  the  division  of  the 
tribes,  and  the  privileges  of  the  houses  of  Levi  and 
David.     That,  according  to  Jewish  usage,  the  links 


208  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  a  genealogy  implied  descent  and  heirship  only, 
but  not  always  the  strict  relation  of  a  child  to  a 
father,  is.  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  genealogies 
of  the  Old  Testament.  Thus,  Ephraim  and  Manas- 
seh,  the  sons  of  Joseph,  were  reckoned  among  the 
other  patriarchs,  as  if  they  had  been  sons,  not  grand- 
sons of  Jacob.  Gen.  48 : 5.  The  list  of  the  sons  of 
Benjamin,  (Gen.  46:21,)  in  the  same  way,  contains 
grandsons  as  well  as  sons,  and  even  the  names  are 
given  differently  in  1  Chron.  7:7  and  8:1.  The 
imperfect  acquaintance,  which  alone  we  possess, 
with  the  details  of  this  subject,  shows  the  absurdity 
of  attempting  to  test,  by  an  arbitrary  and  conjec- 
tural criticism,  the  details  of  lists  so  peculiar  in 
their  construction,  so  complicated  in  their  details, 
and  so  removed  in  their  facts  from  the  possible 
reach  of  modern  knowledge. 

To  object  against  the  genealogies  of  our  Lord, 
that  they  are  couched  in  a  Jewish  form  and  framed 
according  to  Jewish  habits,  would  only  be  to  object 
against  a  human  element  of  Scripture  in  the  teeth 
of  the  fact  that  without  a  human  element  a  revela- 
tion would  have  been  impossible.  Taking  the  hu- 
man element  as  it  exists,  and  making  the  necessary 
allowances  for  the  peculiarity  of  form  it  has  im- 
pressed upon  the  Scriptures,  the  genealogies  are 
internally  consistent,  and  bear  upon  their  front  the 
signs  of  genuineness  and  authenticity.  There  is  not 
a  solitary  tittle  of  evidence  to  impugn  their  histori- 
cal truth,  or,  therefore,  to  call  into  question  the  in- 
spiration which  directed  the  selection  of  these  par- 
ticular lists,  and  the  accuracy  of  their  details. 


HISTORICAL  TRUTH.  209 

I  have  dwelt  the  more  fully  upon  this  instance 
in  order  to  illustrate  the  mode  in  which  Scripture 
must  be  dealt  with,  in  fully  maintaining  alike  its 
human  and  its  Divine  elements.  Such  a  mode  of 
interpretation  sweeps  away  an  immense  mass  of 
speculative  objection.  Historical  truth  is  the  same 
as  all  other  truth,  and  has  relation  to  the  corre- 
spondence between  the  description  and  the  thing 
described.  It  neither  limits  the  point  of  view  taken 
nor  the  character  of  the  language  selected,  but  only 
its  accuracy.  Whether  the  form  of  expression 
adopted  be  prosaic  or  poetical,  didactic  or  devo- 
tional, popular  or  logical,  optical  or  scijntiflc ; 
whether  it  be  the  language  of  ordinary  biography 
or  the  stately  diction  of  history,  are  considerations 
equally  consistent  with  the  human  element  in  the 
personal  peculiarities  of  the  writers  and  with  the 
Divine  element  in  the  sovereign  wisdom  which  se- 
lected and  employed  them.  Varieties  of  expression 
touch  the  mode  of  conveying  truth ;  not  the  truth 
conveyed.  Of  this  truth  there  are  no  degrees,  no 
variations  of  kind.  Truth  is  but  one,  and  the  writ- 
ten word  of  God  is  its  Divine  embodiment. 


210  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN, 


CHAPTEE   XIII. 

THE   TRUTH  OF  SCRIPTURE   PROVED  BY  THE 
TESTIMONY  OF   FACTS. 

Circumstantial  Accuracy  of  the  Sacred  Narratives — Immense  Range 
of  its  Facts — Corroborations  of  Profane  History — The  Govern- 
ing Natious  of  the  Ancient  World  ;  their  Manners,  Customs, 
and  Government — Egypt  as  depicted  in  Scripture,  and  as  rep- 
resented on  tbe  Monuments — Particular  Instances  of  Historical 
Accuracy  in  the  Old  Testament — Instances  in  the  New — The 
Persons  and  Places  of  the  Evangelical  History. 

The  question  has  sometimes  been  suggested, 
What  would  be  the  effect  on  the  doctrine  of  inspira- 
tion of  discovering  errors  in  Scripture?  To  such 
a  question  I  shall  reply  by  simply  declining  to  enter- 
tain the  suggestion ;  and  this  upon  the  principle 
repeatedly  explained  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  that 
our  duty  is  to  deal  with  facts  as  they  are,  and  not 
to  speculate  about  facts  as  they  might  have  been. 
The  discovery  of  mistakes  in  Scripture  would  alter 
the  conditions  of  the  case  altogether,  and  when  the 
alteration  takes  place  it  would  be  time  enough  to 
estimate  its  effects.  The  facts  of  the  case  are  the 
groundwork  of  our  argument  in  regard  to  revealed 
truth  as  much  as  in  regard  to  natural  truth.  It  is, 
therefore,  as  useless  to  attempt  to  reconcile  our 
belief  in  inspiration  with  facts  which  do  not  exist, 
as  it  would  be  to  reconcile  the  theory  of  gravitation 
with  some  altered  condition  of  the  physical  world. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  211 

We  take  the  case  as  it  is,  and  resolutely  decline  to 
go  beyond  its  limits. 

We  maintain  that  no  mistake  has  ever  been  dis- 
covered in  Scripture,  and  we  believe  that  it  never 
will  be  discovered.  We  ground  this  latter  convic- 
tion on  the  astonishing  correspondence  found  to 
exist  between  the  narratives  of  the  Bible  and  the 
ascertained  facts  of  history  and  geography  as  illus- 
trated by  modern  archaeological  discovery.  These 
correspondences  are  so  minute  and  frequently  so 
latent,  so  ingrained  into  the  very  structure  of  the 
narrative  as  to  constitute  an  authentication  of  the 
claims  advanced  by  Scripture  for  itself  of  the  same 
kind  as  the  miracles  of  the  Christian  period  afforded 
to  the  authoritative  commission  of  our  Lord  and  of 
his  apostles.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  our 
knowledge  that  many  passages  charged  with  inac- 
curacy or  manifest  error  have  been  proved  on  fuller 
information  to  be  exactly  and  minutely  true.  We 
rest  our  position  on  the  matter  of  fact  that  no  mis- 
takes have  been  proved  to  exist  in  Scripture,  and 
on  the  reasonable  conclusion,  founded  on  its  proved 
accuracy  on  the  one  side  and  its  own  positive  state- 
ment on  the  other,  that  no  mistake  will  be  found  to 
exist  in  it  in  the  future.  To  the  elucidation  of  these 
points  the  present  chapter  will  be  directed. 

The  Christian  advocate  rejoices  to  bring  the 
question  to  this  test.  In  passing  out  of  the  sphere 
of  abstract  argument  into  the  sphere  of  facts,  he 
passes  from  ground  already  strong  into  ground  still 
stronger.  He  places  his  feet  on  that  solid  rock  of 
historical  truth  against  which  every  skeptical  at- 


212  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

tack  has  hitherto  beaten  as  vainly  as  waves  that 
shiver  themselves  to  pieces  against  the  side  of  some 
immovable  cliff. 

These  circumstantial  evidences  divide  them- 
selves into  two  branches.  On  the  one  side  we 
need  to  show  the  positive  proofs  in  support  of  the 
veracity  of  Scripture ;  on  the  other  side  we  need  to 
examine  the  grounds  on  which  this  veracity  has 
been  impugned,  and  show  that  no  evidences  exist 
of  an  opposite  character,  and  consequently  that  the 
positive  proofs  stand  clear  and  unassailable. 

In  stating  the  positive  evidences  for  the  veracity 
of  Scripture,  we  enter  upon  an  immense  field  of 
inquiry.  Attention  would  be  distracted  in  so  wide  a 
sphere,  unless  some  special  line  be  adopted.  I  pur- 
pose, therefore,  briefly  to  intimate  the  general  char- 
acter of  the  evidences  at  large,  and  then  to  sub- 
stantiate it  by  entering  more  fully  into  some  indi- 
vidual instances. 

The  professed  object  of  Scripture  is  the  revela- 
tion of  the  Divine  will;  but  the  communication  of 
it  is  grouped  round  the  history  of  the  chosen  race. 
Revealed  truth  was  formally  intrusted  to  their  keep- 
ing, and  out  of  their  line  came  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  The  most  ancient  books  of  Scripture  con- 
sequently contain  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  people 
from  their  first  original,  through  the  story  of  their 
imperial  greatness,  down  to  their  decline.  This  his- 
tory, however,  bears  a  definite  character  through- 
out. It  is  not  directed  primarily,  as  secular  histo- 
ries are,  to  the  record  of  their  government,  their 
manners,  arts,  and  civilization ;  but  to  their  relation 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  213 

towards  God,  and  the  development  of  his  designs 
of  mercy  towards  a  ruined  world.  What  may  be 
called  the  secular  side  of  their  history  constitutes 
its  secondary,  not  its  primary  feature,  and  is  given 
incidentally  rather  than  directly.  Yet,  incidental 
as  this  side  of  the  narrative  is,  it  comes,  neverthe- 
less, at  a  great  many  different  points  of  the  story, 
into  contact  with  the  history  of  other  nations,  and 
with  peculiarities  of  place,  climate,  habit,  and  circum- 
stances, relative  to  which  secular  sources  supply  us 
with  more  or  less  exact  information.  There  are 
thousands  of  particulars  specified  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment history  in  which  it  is  conceivable  that  mis- 
takes might  have  been  detected,  and  in  which,  had 
not  the  books  been  infallibly  inspired,  we  conclude 
that  mistakes  would  have  been  detected,  simply  be- 
cause it  is  in  these  very  particulars  that  the  imper- 
fection of  human  knowledge  ordinarily  betrays  itself. 
Now,  not  only  has  criticism  failed  to  discover  in 
these  varied  particulars  one  single  contradiction  to 
known  facts,  but  it  has  brought  to  light  an  aston- 
ishing accordance  with  them.  Exactly  in  propor- 
tion as  our  knowledge  of  the  countries,  circumstan- 
ces, and  nations  alluded  to,  has  become  more  pre- 
cise and  minute,  in  that  proportion  have  all  the 
statements  of  Scripture  been  more  and  more  exactly 
verified. 

This  is  the  case  with  the  geography  of  Scrip- 
ture. The  Book  of  Genesis  alone  records  the  names 
of  more  than  one  hundred  distinct  places,  adding  in 
many  cases  descriptive  epithets  which  involve  local 
details,  as  in  the  description  of  the  cities  of  the 


214  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

plain.  The  Book  of  Numbers  contains  the  names  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  separate  places,  or  therea- 
bouts, distinguishing  them  by  characteristic  details, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Jordan,  Jericho,  the  plains  of 
Moab,  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  the  booths  of  Succoth, 
and  the  grapes  of  Eshcol.  The  land  containing 
these  places  is  well  known,  and  has  been  searched 
from  end  to  end  with  restless  curiosity  during  the 
last  few  years.  The  places  specified,  moreover,  are 
not  mentioned  at  random,  but  with  a  certain  rela- 
tion towards  each  other,  as  in  the  enumeration  of 
the  journeys  of  the  people  in  the  wilderness.  Ran- 
dom guesses,  names  used  at  haphazard,  or  fictitious 
references  to  spots  having  no  real  existence,  would 
have  exposed  the  narrative  to  immediate  and  posi- 
tive disproof.  Not  only,  however,  is  there  a  total 
absence  of  the  slightest  evidence  of  any  mistake  in 
these  geographical  details,  but  there  is  a  vast  accu- 
mulation of  evidence  in  favor  of  their  minute  accu- 
racy. Scarcely  a  traveller  has  trodden  the  soil  of 
the  Holy  Land  without  furnishing  some  new  illus- 
trations of  the  sacred  narrative,  and  bringing  to 
light  fresh  corroborations  of  its  truthfulness. 

The  case  is  the  same  with  the  details  of  nations 
and  peoples,  and  the  characteristic  circumstances 
of  manners  and  habits  attributed  to  them.  The 
narratives  of  the  Pentateuch  find  the  illustration  of 
their  details  in  the  existing  manners  of  the  descend- 
ants of  Ishmael  at  the  present  day.  The  fortunes 
of  the  Hebrew  people  brought  them  into  contact 
with  all  the  most  eminent  nations  of  antiquity- 
Egyptians,  Phoenicians,  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Per- 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  215 

sians,  Greeks,  and  Romans ;  jet  in  every  case,  with- 
out one  solitary  exception,  the  circumstances  of 
date,  place,  persons,  and  events,  are  true  to  the 
reality,  as  far  as  modern  research  has  been  able  to 
trace  and  identify  them.  It  constitutes  an  argu- 
ment of  singular  strength  that  not  one  solitary  case 
of  historical  inaccuracy  has  ever  been  made  out. 

A  specific  instance  will  best  illustrate  the  minute 
accuracy  of  the  sacred  history  and  its  singular  mul- 
tiplicity of  detail.  Let  Egypt  be  taken  as  an  exam- 
ple. The  whole  references  to  Egyptian  manners 
and  customs  are  incidental  rather  than  direct.  Yet 
many  minute  details  are  contained  in  them,  exactly 
corresponding  with  all  we  know  of  ancient  Egypt, 
alike  from  the  pages  of  history,  and  from  those 
silent  and  impartial  witnesses  of  the  past,  the 
monumental  records.  The  separation  of  the  native 
Egyptians  from  foreigners,  and  yet  their  allowance 
of  them  in  their  lands,  their  special  hatred  of  shep- 
herds, the  character  of  the  government,  the  power 
of  the  king,  the  influence  of  the  priests,  the  tenure 
of  land,  the  existence  of  the  military  class,  their  use 
of  horses  and  chariots  in  war,  their  great  buildings, 
and  the  employment  of  foreigners  in  their  construc- 
tion, the  use  of  bricks,  and  of  bricks  with  straw  in 
them,  the  taskmasters,  the  embalming  of  the  dead, 
the  importation  of  spices  for  this  purpose,  the  vio- 
lent mournings,  the  dissolute  morals,  are  all  more  or 
less  fully  specified.  Our  knowledge  of  their  gross 
idolatry  throws  peculiar  light  upon  the  history  of 
the  plagues.  The  use  of  Egyptian  names,  such  as 
Pharaoh,  Potiphar,  Asenath,  Zaphnath-paaneah,  and 


216  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Moses,  together  with  some  ordinary  words,  complete 
the  striking  chain  of  evidence.  The  proof  of  histori- 
cal evidences  tlms  afforded  is  so  much  the  stronger 
because  of  their  incidental  occurrence.  They  do  not 
enter  into  the  formal  purpose  of  the  history,  and 
yet  are  so  intimately  connected  with  the  narrative, 
that  the  events  could  not  have  existed  separate  from 
the  local  and  national  peculiarities.  For  instance, 
the  events  of  the  settlement  in  Egypt,  and  the  Ex- 
odus, could  not  have  taken  place  in  the  same  way 
in  Nineveh,  or  Babylon,  or  Susa,  or  Macedon,  or 
Borne.  Another  striking  instance  of  this  accurate 
delineation  of  national  manners  is  afforded  by  the 
Book  of  Esther,  and  the  picture  drawn  of  the  Per- 
sian manners  and  habits.  The  character  of  Arta- 
xerxes,  himself  the  hero  of  profane  history,  the 
prolonged  feast  at  court,  the  relation  of  the  queen 
towards  the  monarch,  and  the  court. etiquette  with 
reference  to  her,  the  public  records,  the  wholesale 
massacre,  the  methods  of  reward,  the  posts  hasted 
by  the  king's  command,  the  diversity  and  number 
of  the  provinces,  are  all  true  to  the  very  life. 

A  little  consideration  will  show  what  an  immense 
field  of  inquiry  is  opened  in  this  direction,  when  we 
glance  hastily  down  the  line  of  history  alike  through- 
out the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Or  if  any  one 
fails  in  this  mode  to  form  an  adequate  apprecia- 
tion of  the  prodigious  number  of  details  contained, 
directly  or  by  inference,  in  the  scriptural  books,  let 
him  take  up  a  modern  Bible  dictionary,  and  let 
him  remember  that  the  whole  voluminous  work  is 
directed  solely  to  the  elucidation  of  these  details. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  217 

Yet  from  this  vast  area,  searched  as  it  has  been, 
with  increasing  diligence,  alike  by  the  foes  and  the 
friends  of  the  Bible,  not  one  solitary  case  of  proved 
inaccuracy  has  yet  been  gathered.  This  very  fact 
is  itself  a  wonder,  and  witnesses  trumpet-tongued 
to  the  more  than  human  Authorship,  which  alone 
can  explain  this  more  than  human  accuracy  over 
so  vast  a  lapse  of  time  and  variety  of  topics. 

But  the  truth  must  be  stated  in  greater  detail. 
Enough  having  been  said  to  indicate  the  extent  of 
the  accuracy  of  Scripture,  it  is  now  necessary  to 
indicate  its  degree.  Cases  of  minute  accuracy  in 
little  things  and  single  words  occur  very  exten- 
sively ;  and  it  is  by  them  that  the  extent  of  scrip- 
tural inspiration  can  best  be  ascertained.  This 
purpose,  moreover,  can  only  be  served  by  instances 
where  an  exact  confirmation  of  the  accuracy  can 
be  derived  from  independent  sources.  For  this 
reason  the  New  Testament  supplies  them  most 
abundantly,  and  especially  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, because  a  larger  number  of  geographical  and 
other  details  occur  in  it  than  elsewhere.  In  the 
New  Testament  we  find  ourselves  within  the  period 
of  recognized  history.  We  have  abundant  sources 
of  information,  and  the  evidences  of  the  minute  ve- 
racity of  Scripture  are  proportion  ably  multiplied. 
But  while  the  New  Testament  is,  for  these  natural 
reasons,  most  peculiarly  rich  in  instances,  they  are 
to  be  found  likewise  in  the  Old  Testament ;  and  the 
constant  enlargement  of  our  information  is  as  con- 
stantly enlarging  their  number.  Over  the  whole 
extent  of  inquiry  open  to  us  it  will  be  impossible 

God's  Word.  10 


218  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

even  to  glance  in  a  work  like  the  present.  The 
instances  now  to  be  adduced  are  offered  only  as 
special  illustrations  of  a  general  truth. 

1.  In  Genesis  10:10,  the  ancient  empire  of  Nim- 
rod  is  described :  "  And  the  beginning  of  his  king- 
dom was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Calneh, 
in  the  land  of  Shinar.  Out  of  that  land  went  forth 
Asshur,  and  builded  Nineveh,  and  the  city  Beho- 
both,  (or  the  streets  of  the  city,  margin,)  and  Calah, 
and  Besen  between  Nineveh  and  Calah."  As  the 
names  stand  in  the  record,  they  might  be  mere 
names,  incapable  either  of  identification  or  of  dis- 
proof, and  so  the  case  stood  till  a  very  recent  date 
in  our  own  epoch.  But  modern  investigation  has 
examined  the  mounds  of  Mesopotamia,  and  has  de- 
ciphered inscriptions  of  three  thousand  years  ago. 
These  inscriptions  not  only  prove  the  existence  and 
importance  of  these  cities,  but  have  enabled  explo- 
rers to  identify  the  very  sites  on  which  they  once 
stood.  Babylon,  and  Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Cal- 
neh, and  Nineveh,  and  Calah,  and  Besen,  now  stand 
upon  our  maps  as  precisely  noted  by  the  geogra- 
pher of  the  nineteenth  century  after  Christ  as  they 
were  chronicled  by  the  inspired  historian  fifteen 
centuries  before  Christ. 

2.  In  the  same  passage,  Genesis  10 : 8,  9,  Nimrod 
is  spoken  of  as  a  prince  so  great  and  celebrated 
that  his  name  had  become  a  proverb :  "  Wherefore 
it  is  said,  'Even  as  Nimrod  the  mighty  hunter 
before  the  Lord.'  "  The  inscriptions  confirm  this 
celebrity  of  Nimrod,  and  local  tradition  still  conse- 
crates his  name.     We  are  told  that  all  the  great 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  219 

ruins  in  the  Mesopotamian  valley  are  still  popu- 
larly associated  with  his  name,  and  "  are  made  in 
this  way  monuments  of  his  glory." 

3.  In  Numbers  34,  Moses  describes  the  borders 
of  the  territory  to  be  occupied  by  the  people,  and 
in  the  eighth  verse  draws  the  line  of  their  northern 
boundary:  "From  Mount  Hor  unto  the  entrance 
(or  gate)  of  Hamath."  Mr.  Porter  describes  the 
scene  as  follows :  "  On  its  southern  side  the  ridge 
of  Lebanon  rises  abruptly  to  a  height  of  ten  thou- 
sand feet ;  and  on  its  northern  the  lower  ridge  of 
Bargylus  terminates  in  a  bluff  promontoiw.  Be- 
tween the  two  lies  the  only  opening  from  the  land 
of  Hamath  to  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean." 
This  is  "  the  entrance  "  from  that  great  sea.  "  There 
is  but  one,  and  it  cannot  be  mistaken.  That  pass 
between  Lebanon  and  Bargylus  is  the  only  open- 
ing from  the  west  into  the  land  of  Hamath.  I  have 
been  told  that  to  this  day  it  is  called  by  the  people 
of  Tripoli  Bar-Hamath,  '  the  door  of  Hamath.'  "* 
"Freshwater  Gate"  is  an  instance  of  the  same  kind 
of  descriptive  epithet  in  our  own  country. 

4.  In  Judges  3 :8,  Chushan-rishathaim  is  spoken 
of  as  "king  of  Mesopotamia."  Now  this  country 
was  included  in  the  great  Assyrian  empire,  and  the 
existence  of  an  independent  monarch  over  this  spe- 
cial region  would  therefore  appear  like  an  inaccu- 
racy in  the  historian.  But  the  cuneiform  records 
of  two  centuries  later  than  the  date  of  Othniel  show 
that  the  Assyrian  empire  did  not  even  at  that  time 
extend  over  this  land.     It  was  not  till  the  middle  of 

*  Porter's  ;i  Giant  Cities,"  p.  310. 


220  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  twelfth  century  before  Christ  that  the  country 
between  the  Khabour  and  the  Euphrates  was  inclu- 
ded in  the  Assyrian  empire.  The  inspired  historian 
is  consequently  perfectly  accurate. 

5.  In  the  account  of  the  slaughter  of  the  kings 
given  in  Joshua,  it  is  recorded :  "  It  came  to  pass, 
as  they  fled  from  before  Israel,  and  were  in  the 
going  down  to  Bethhoron,  that  the  Lord  cast  down 
great  stones  from  heaven  upon  them,  and  they 
died,"  Josh.  10:12.  The  phrase,  "  going  down  to 
Bethhoron,"  might  appear  to  our  modern  habits  to 
express  only  the  direction  of  the  flight ;  but  an  ex- 
amination of  the  locality  shows  its  exact  accuracy 
and  the  meaning  of  the  whole  passage  :  "  The  Isra- 
elites chased  them  along  the  way  that  goeth  up  to 
Bethhoron.  A  quarter  of  a  mile  west  of  Gibeon  is 
a  sharp  ascent  to  a  low  ridge.  Up  this  the  Ammon- 
ites fled,  hard  pressed  by  their  pursuers.  From  the 
top  of  the  ridge  a  long  and  rugged  descent  leads  to 
Bethhqron,  which  now  appears  in  front,  crowning 
a  projecting  shoulder  of  the  mountain.  The  nature 
of  the  ground  favored  the  fugitives ;  but  '  as  they 
fled  before  Israel,  and  were  in  the  going  down  to 
Bethhoron,  the  Lord  cast  down  great  stones  from 
heaven  upon  them.'  Joshua  led  the  van  of  his 
troops.  He  saw  that  the  victory  was  complete,  but 
yet  that  night  must  eventually  save  the  Ammonite 
a n ii v  from  total  destruction,  and  enable  a  large 
body  of  them  to  escape  to  their  cities  through  the 
valley  of  Ajalon,  at  the  foot  of  the  pass  down  which 
they  were  rushing.  Then,  standing  on  some  com- 
manding rock  in  the  sight  of  the  whole  people,  in 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  221 

the  fulness  of  faith  and  enthusiasm,  Joshua  gave 
utterance  to  that  wondrous  prayer-prophecy;  glan- 
cing back  towards  Gibeon  and  forward  upon  Ajalon, 
'Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon;  and  thou,  moon, 
in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.'  "* 

G.  Tyre  and  Sidon  occur  early  and  frequently  in 
the  scriptural  narrative.  But  there  is  this  peculiar- 
ity in  the  occurrence  of  the  names,  that  Sidon  only 
is  mentioned  by  Moses,  and  that  twice  over  in  the 
Book  of  Joshua  it  is  described  as  "  great  Sidon," 
while  in  the  same  book  Tyre  is  only  described  as  a 
"  strong  city."  It  is  implied,  therefore,  that  at  this 
period  Sidon  has  the  preeminence  in  opulence  and 
power.  But  at  a  later  period  of  the  history  this 
is  changed;  Tyre  is  specified,  while  Sidon  appears 
to  have  sunk  into  comparative  insignificance.  In 
2  Sam.  24  :G  it  is  simply  "Sidon  and  the  stronghold 
of  Tyre."  The  whole  intercourse  between  David 
and  Hiram  implies  this  reversed  order  of  preemi- 
nence between  the  two  Phoenician  cities.  Profane 
records  exactly  confirm  this  order  of  superiority. 
Homer,  Strabo,  and  Justin,  record  the  ancient  su- 
periority of  Sidon,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the 
ancient  Egyptian  lists,  in  which  Sidon  takes  the 
precedence  ;  but  Dins  (Josephus  c.  Apion,  i.  17)  and 
Menander  affirm  the  superiority  of  Tyre  at  the  time 
of  David.  If,  therefore,  Moses  and  Joshua  had 
used  the  language  of  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Sam- 
uel, or  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Samuel  had  used 
the  language  of  Moses  and  Joshua,  they  would  have 
been  guilty  of  historical  inaccuracy.    But  each  wri- 

*  Porter's  "Giant  Cities,"  p.  174. 


222  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

tor  preserves  the  exact  order  of  the  facts  at  his  own 
day,  and  all  three  are  right. 

7.  The  prophet  Isaiah,  in  chapter  xx.,  mentions 
an  Assyrian  monarch,  not  specified  in  the  historical 
books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles,  as  attacking  and 
taking  Ashdod.  In  the  sixth  verse  of  that  chapter 
the  prophet  predicts  that  he  should  take  the  Egyp- 
tians captive.  For  a  long  time  criticism  identified 
Sargon  with  some  other  of  the  Assyrian  kings,  as 
with  Shalmaneser,  Sennacherib,  and  Esarhaddon ; 
but  the  native  records  are  now  found  to  contain  the 
name  of  Sargon  as  an  independent  monarch  reign- 
ing at  Khorsabad,  and  relate  the  fact  that  he  cap- 
tured Ashdod,  to  which  they  add  the  further  state- 
ment of  his  conquest  of  Egypt,  in  exact  accordance 
with  the  declaration  of  Isaiah. 

8.  The  tribute  paid  by  Hezekiah  to  Sennache- 
rib is  stated  to  have  been  three  hundred  talents  of 
silver  and  thirty  talents  of  gold.  The  annals  of 
Sennacherib  record  the  same  campaign,  and  state 
the  payment,  so  far  as  the  gold  is  concerned,  at  ex- 
actly the  same  sum,  "  thirty  talents  of  gold."  The 
amount  of  silver  stated  is  larger — eight  hundred 
talents  instead  of  three ;  but  it  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose that  the  Assyrian  account  is  exaggerated,  and 
includes  portions  of  the  spoil. 

9.  Both  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Kings  and  the 
prophet  Isaiah  record  that  Adrammelech  and  Sha- 
rezer,  after  the  murder  of  their  father,  tied  into 
the  land  of  Armenia.  In  the  history  of  Moses 
of  Chorene  the  fact  is  recorded,  with  additional 
information   as   to    the    parts    of   the    country   in 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  223 

which  they  were  settled  by  the  then  reigning  mon- 
arch. 

10.  Sennacherib  was  succeeded  by  Esarhaddon, 
2  Kings  19 :  37.  Isaiah  records  the  same  fact,  and 
the  monuments  confirm  it.  No  further  mention  of 
Esarhaddon's  name  occurs,  however,  in  Scripture. 
But  as  Sennacherib  was  contemporary  with  Heze- 
kiah,  Esarhaddon  must  have  been  contemporary 
with  his  son  Manasseh,  and  is  therefore  identified 
by  a  natural  inference  with  the  king  of  Assyria  who 
"  took  Manasseh  among  the  thorns,  and  bound  him 
with  fetters,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon,"  2  Chron. 
33:11.  But  why  should  an  Assyrian  king  carry  his 
prisoner  to  Babylon,  and  not  to  Nineveh  ?  Had  the 
fact  been  recorded  of  any  other  Assyrian  monarch 
but  this  one,  it  must  have  been  reckoned  to  be  a  mis- 
statement. But  Esarhaddon,  and  he  alone  of  all  the 
Assyrian  kings,  reigned  at  Babylon,  and  held  court 
there.  The  minute  accuracy  of  the  history  on  a 
point  wholly  incidental  is  thus  singularly  confirmed. 

The  foregoing  list  of  specific  and  minute  in- 
stances of  exact  accuracy  in  the  inspired  narratives 
might  be  very  greatly  enlarged,  even  in  the  present 
imperfect  state  of  our  information,  and  therefore 
imperfect  means  of  verification.  Nor  are  the  in- 
stances already  known  confined  to  historical  details. 
Thus,  an  instance  of  scientific  truth  is  contained  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  The  order  in  which 
the  tribes  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  specified  in 
verse  11,  and  the  orderly  creation  of  animal  life  in 
verses  21  and  27,  have  been  shown  to  "  fit  into  the 
most  scientific  system  of  classification."     An  in- 


224  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

stance  of  another  kind,  touching  a  matter  of  per- 
sonal observation,  is  found  in  the  account  of  the 
prospect  of  the  promised  land  afforded  to  Moses 
from  the  top  of  Pisgah.  "And  the  Lord  showed 
him  all  the  land  of  Gilead,  unto  Dan,  and  all  Naph- 
tali  and  the  land  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and 
all  the  land  of  Judah  unto  the  utmost  sea."  The 
Eev.  H.  B.  Tristram,  one  of  the  latest  as  well  as 
one  of  the  most  trustworthy  explorers  of  Palestine, 
describes  the  view  as  he  saw  it  with  his  own  eyes, 
in  language  singularly  illustrative  of  the  scriptural 
accuracy :  "  Looking  over  it  (the  Jordan)  the  eye 
rested  on  Gerizim's  rounded  top ;  and  farther  still 
opened  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  the  shoulder  of  Car- 
mel,  or  some  other  intervening  height,  just  showing 
to  the  right  of  Gerizim;  while  the  faint  and  distant 
bluish  haze  beyond  it  told  us  that  there  was  the  sea,  the 
tit  most  sea" 

The  instances  already  given  have  been  taken 
from  the  Old  Testament.  It  is,  however,  from  the 
New  that  the  proofs  of  scriptural  veracity  can  be 
most  abundantly  and  conclusively  drawn.  The  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  as  already  stated,  is  peculiarly  rich 
in  them.  The  evidences  are  supplied  from  those 
portions  of  the  Bible  where,  from  the  closer  prox- 
imity of  the  period  to  our  own,  and  our  greater 
familiarity  with  the  places  and  persons  mentioned, 
they  might  most  reasonably  be  expected.  To  en- 
deavor  to  give  any  thing  approaching  a  list  of  these 
correspondences  would  extend  this  chapter  far  be- 
yond its  necessary  limits.  I  shall,  therefore,  both 
for  the  sake  of  brevity  and  clearness,  group  a  few 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  225 

instances  together,  under  the  two  heads  of  the  per- 
sons and  places  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament. 

I.  The  remarkable  and  discriminating  accuracy 
exhibited  in  the  scriptural  references  of  the  New 
Testament  to  conspicuous  persons  known  to  pro- 
faue  history  is  worthy  of  all  attention.  The  politi- 
cal circumstances  of  Palestine  during  the  period 
covered  by  the  New  Testament  history  were  to  the 
highest  degree  intricate  and  peculiar.  I  cannot  do 
better  than  quote  the  description  of  Mr.  Pawlinson, 
to  whose  research  I  have  been  greatly  indebted  in 
the  selection  of  the  illustrative  instances  already 
adduced  in  this  chapter.  "  The  political  condition 
of  Palestine  .  .  .  was  curiously  complicated  and 
anomalous.  It  underwent  frequent  changes,  but 
retained  through  all  of  them  certain  peculiarities 
which  made  the  position  of  the  country  unique  among 
the  dependencies  of  Pome.  Not  having  been  con- 
quered in  the  ordinary  way,  but  having  passed  un- 
der the  Roman  dominion  with  the  consent  and  by 
the  assistance  of  a  large  party  among  the  inhabi- 
tants, it  was  allowed  to  maintain  for  a  while  a  spe- 
cies of  semi-independence  not  unlike  that  of  various 
native  states  in  India,  which  are  really  British  de- 
pendencies. A  mixture,  and  to  some  extent  an 
alternation,  of  Poman  with  native  power,  resulted 
from  this  arrangement,  and  a  consequent  complica- 
tion in  the  political  status,  which  must  have  made 
it  very  difficult  to  be  thorougly  understood  by  any 
one  who  was  not  a  native  and  a  contemporary.  The 
chief  representative  of  the  Poman  power  in  the 
East,  the  president  of  Syria,  the  local  governor, 
10* 


226  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

whether  a  Herod  or  a  Roman  procurator,  and  the 
high  priest,  had  each  and  all  certain  rights  and 
a  certain  authority  in  the  country.  A  double  sys- 
tem of  taxation,  a  double  administration  of  justice, 
and  even,  in  some  degree,  a  double  military  com- 
mand, were  the  natural  consequence ;  while  Jewish 
and  Roman  customs,  Jewish  and  Roman  words, 
were  simultaneously  in  use,  and  a  condition  of 
things  existed  full  of  harsh  contrasts,  strange  mix- 
tures, and  abrupt  transitions.  Within  the  space  of 
fifty  years  Palestine  was  a  single  united  kingdom 
under  a  native  ruler  ;  a  set  of  principalities  under 
native  ethnarchs  and  tetrarchs ;  a  country  in  part 
containing  such  principalities,  in  part  reduced  to 
the  condition  of  a  Roman  province ;  a  kingdom  re- 
united once  more  under  a  native  sovereign,  and  a 
country  reduced  wholly  under  Rome,  and  governed 
by  procurators  dependent  on  the  president  of  Syria, 
but  still  subject,  in  certain  resj)ects,  to  the  Jewish 
monarch  of  a  neighboring  territory."* 

During  this  period  the  notable  persons  men- 
tioned more  or  less  fully  by  the  sacred  writers  are 
six  members  of  the  family  of  Herod,  and  four  Roman 
governors  of  Judea.  Five  of  the  Herodian  family 
exercised  the  authority  of  government ;  but  neither 
were  their  dominions  and  authority  in  any  one  case 
identical,  nor  did  they  succeed  each  other  in  order 
of  time.  Herod  the  Great  reigned  by  the  favor  of 
Augustus  over  the  whole  of  Palestine.  On  his  death 
his  dominions  were  divided  into  three  parts.  Arche- 
laus  received  Judea,  Samaria,  and  Idumea,  with  the 
*  Rawlinson's  "Bampton  Lectures."  p.  2'M. 


THE   TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  227 

title  of  tetrarch.  Antipas  was  made  tetrarch  of 
Galilee  and  Pera?a ;  and  Philip  tetrarch  of  Tracho- 
nitis  and  the  adjoining  regions.  But  these  three 
governments  did  not  continue  for  an  equal  period. 
The  power  of  Archelaus  came  speedily  to  an  end, 
and  Judea  was  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  Ho- 
rn an  province  under  the  government  of  procurators. 
Four  of  these  preceded  Pontius  Pilate;  then  for  a 
time  the  dominions  of  Herod  the  Great  were  reu- 
nited under  his  grandson  Agrippa.  But  on  the 
death  of  Agrippa  they  became  again  a  Boinan 
province  ;  and  yet  immediately  afterwards  there  was 
another  kiug  Agrippa,  but  without  authority  in 
Judea.  Yet  through  this  tangled  maze  the  scrip- 
tural narrative  finds  its  way  without  fault  and  with- 
out stumbling.  Not  a  single  inaccuracy  is  to  be 
found,  either  as  regards  person,  place,  or  time. 
This  veracity  is  the  more  remarkable  because  the 
narrative  does  not  proceed  from  the  pen  of  the 
same  author,  but  from  four  authors.  These  authors, 
moreover,  were  not  men  of  the  higher  rank,  conver- 
sant with  political  changes  and  the  balancing  of 
concurrent  authorities ;  yet  the  narrative  steps 
firmly  and  unerringly  along  its  course. 

Moreover,  to  the  maintenance  of  the  historical 
order  of  events  it  adds  the  precise  discrimination  of 
individual  character.  Each  person  appears  in  con- 
nection with  exactly  those  events  and  that  conduct 
which  our  independent  information  shows  to  be  as 
consistent  with  that  particular  person  as  it  would 
be  inconsistent  with  the  person  preceding  or  suc- 
ceeding in  the  order  of  the  narrative. 


228  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

First  comes  Herod  the  Great,  so  jealous  and 
suspicious,  so  treacherous  and  cruel,  that  one  of  his 
own  Roman  patrons  declared  that  it  was  better  to 
be  Herod's  dog  than  his  son.  Then  step  upon  the 
scene  Archclaus,  with  a  character  so  much  dreaded 
that  Joseph  "was  afraid  to  go"  (Matt.  2:22)  into 
Judea;  Antipas,  crafty  and  sensual,  and  yet  weak 
and  impressible,  and  Philip,  undistinguished  by 
any  special  decision  of  character.  Then  suddenly 
we  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  the  Eoman 
procurator  Pontius  Pilate.  If  we  are  perplexed  to 
understand  the  motives  of  his  conduct  towards  Jesus 
Christ,  we  have  but  to  turn  to  the  illustrative  state- 
ments of  profane  history,  and  there  in  his  incon- 
stant and  cruel  character,  and  in  the  relation  of 
mutual  distrust?  and  reciprocal  dislike  existing  be- 
tween himself  and  the  Jews,  we  find  the  explana- 
tion of  it  all.  Then  all  at  once,  as  it  were,  without 
any  previous  hint  in  the  sacred  pages  of  political 
changes,  which  did  not  touch  the  great  purpose  of 
the  inspired  narrative,  we  find  ourselves  confronted 
with  another  Jewish  monarch  excessively  popular, 
but  through  that  very  cause  engaged  in  a  bitter 
persecution  of  the  church.  His  luxurious  tastes, 
love  of  popularity,  delight  in  state  and  show,  with 
the  particulars  of  his  dreadful  death,  are  all  touched 
with  a  graphic  brevity  equally  remarkable  and  im- 
pressive. Then  two  successive  governors  of  Judea 
are  presented  to  us;  not  as  mere  names,  but  as  liv- 
ing persons  with  their  living  peculiarities  of  charac- 
ter upon  them.  First  appears  Felix  with  his  Jewish 
wife,  himself  vigorous  indeed  in  his  administration, 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  229 

but  personally  so  unprincipled,  that  lie  is  said  by 
Tacitus  "in  all  kinds  of  lust  and  cruelty  "to  have 
exercised  "the  power  of  a  king  with  the  temper  of 
a  slave."  How  natural  it  was  that  such  a  man, 
crouching  before  the  complaints  against  him  pre- 
sented by  his  enemies  at  Rome,  should  seek  to  gain 
popularity  with  a  party  by  an  act  of  injustice  tow- 
ards an  apostle.  "Felix,  willing  to  show  the  Jews 
a  pleasure,  left  Paul  bound."  Acts  24:27.  How 
natural  that,  with  a  conscience  laden  with  many 
crimes,  such  a  man  should  have  trembled  beneath 
the  preaching  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment  to  come,  and  yet  should  have  trembled 
without  repenting.  Felix  was  succeeded  by  Porcius 
Festus,  a  man  of  very  different  character — just,  and 
firm,  and  equitable.  It  is  a  naturaVpart  of  the  same 
argument,  to  remark  that  the  character  of  Gallio, 
the  Pioman  governor  at  Corinth,  is  also  drawn  in 
exact  accordance  with  the  high  character  borne 
by  him  by  the  historians  of  his  own  country.  Thus 
the  scriptural  narrative  is  precisely  true  through- 
out, as  tested  by  the  most  accurate  information  of 
our  own  day. 

II.  But  the  case  is  still  stronger  with  the  refer- 
ences to  places  occurring  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles. Here  again  the  complicated  political  condition 
of  the  Roman  empire  and  the  minute  variations 
arising  from  it  in  the  political  status  of  different 
cities,  or  even  of  the  same  city  at  different  times, 
must  be  kept  clearly  in  mind.  The  relation  of  the 
various  cities  of  the  empire  towards  Rome  herself 
differed  very  widely.     Conquest,  or  settlement,  or 


230  GOD'S  WOHD  WRITTEN. 

peculiar  amity,  or  special  services  rendered  at  some 
crisis  of  the  imperial  fortunes,  led  to  the  gift  of 
very  different  degrees  of  independence.  Thus  some 
were  municipal,  or  foreign  cities  adopted  into  a 
close  political  connection.  Some  were  settlements 
(aicoucuu),  offshoots  from  the  parent  empire,  legally 
independent,  but  retaining  a  filial  obedience  to  the 
mother  state.  Some  were  free  cities,  and  in  virtue 
of  freedom  were  self-governed  in  all  internal  affairs 
within  the  territory  assigned  to  them.  Some  were 
colonies,  being  military  settlements  designed  to  pro- 
tect the  frontier,  or  to  keep  a  disaffected  province 
in  subjection.  In  addition  to  this  it  was  possible 
for  individuals  to  possess  the  right  of  Roman  citi- 
zenship, either  by  purchase,  as  in  the  case  of  Clau- 
dius Lysias,  or  by  reward  for  some  signal  service, 
as  in  the  case  of  Paul's  father,  or  by  inheritance,  as 
in  the  case  of  St.  Paul.  Privileges  accorded  to 
citizenship  by  the  Roman  law  were  many  and  great. 
In  addition  to  these  intricate  relations,  arising  from 
the  wide  extension  and  varied  circumstances  of  the 
Roman  law,  other  local  peculiarities  of  title,  name, 
and  office  prevailed,  in  the  apostolic  times,  from  the 
admixture  of  Greek  and  Roman  habits  in  the  same 
civilization. 

Now,  we  should  recall  how  difficult  it  is  for  a 
stranger  passing  from  city  to  city  to  enter  into 
these  exact  distinctions,  how  much  more  difficult  to 
maintain  them  where  no  personal  acquaintance 
exists  to  suggest  by  the  mere  force  of  familiar  asso- 
ciation the  particular  title.  It  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult for  a  foreigner,  for  instance,  and  it  is  not  always 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  231 

easy  for  an  Englishman,  to  understand  the  diver- 
sities of  local  government,  and  the  specific  titles  of 
local  offices  in  his  own  country.  In  regard  to  the 
sacred  writings  the  difficulty  was  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  the  vast  diversities  of  race,  circumstance, 
and  constitution,  welded  together  by  the  adminis- 
trative genius  of  Piome  into  the  one  imperial  unity. 
The  accurate  knowledge  exhibited  by  the  scriptural 
narrative  on  all  these  questions,  and  the  accurate 
use  in  each  case  of  the  especially  appropriate  name 
is  the  more  significant,  because  there  is  evidence 
that  it  did  not  arise  from  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  places  and  persons  described,  on  the  part 
of  the  writer.  There  is  an  evident  reason  for  con- 
cluding that  St.  Luke  was  with  St.  Paul  at  Troas 
and  Philippi,  for  he  uses  the  first  person  "  we." 
But  there  is  nothing  whatever  to  indicate  his  atten- 
dance on  the  apostle  at  Thessalonica,  Athens,  Cor- 
inth, or  Ephesus.  If,  therefore,  unfailing  accuracy 
of  language  is  maintained,  it  must  be  attributed  to 
the  overruling  inspiration  of  God,  and  not  to  the 
special  information  of  man. 

This  accuracy  is  illustrated  in  the  following- 
instances.  Cyprus  is  described  as  governed  by  a 
pro-consul,  the  title  ascribed  to  Sergius  Paulus  by 
St.  Luke  being  exclusively  applied  to  that  dignity. 
Philippi  is  expressly  stated  to  have  been  a  colon}', 
and  the  coins  of  that  city  bear  the  title.  Thessa- 
lonica was  a  free  city,  and  this  is  expressed  by  St. 
Luke,  by  the  distinctive  title  he  gives  to  the  magis- 
trates of  that  place.  The  authorized  version  sim- 
ply  uses   the   word   "rulers   of   the   city."     They 


232  GOD'S   YVOKD  WRITTEN. 

brought  "Jason  and  certain  brethren  unto  the 
rulers  of  the  city."  Acts  17 :  G.  But  these  rulers 
were  native  magistrates,  as  is  expressed  in  the 
term  TroTurapKat.  The  remains  of  a  marble  arch  still 
remain  in  Thessalonica,  and  on  this  arch  is  an 
inscription  beginning  with,  this  very  name.  It  re- 
cords the  existence  of  seven  politarchs  at  Thessa- 
lonica. At  Athens  the  evangelist  records  the  exist- 
ence of  an  altar  inscribed  "To  the  unknown  God." 
Two  secular  writers,  Pausanias  and  Philostratus, 
confirm  the  statement  that  altars  with  this  inscrip- 
tion existed  at  Athens.  Corinth  is  designated  a 
pro-consular  province  by  the  application  to  Gallio 
of  the  official  title  of  the  pro-consul  applied  to  Ser- 
gius  Paulus.  Yet,  in  fact,  Corinth  underwent  three 
changes,  having  been  a  pro-consular  province  under 
Augustus,  then  in  the  time  of  Tiberius  being  gov- 
erned by  imperial  procurators,  and  again  becoming 
a  pro-consular  province  under  Claudius,  only  ten 
years  before  the  date  of  St.  Paul's  visit,  and  his  use 
of  the  official  title  "anthupatos."  In  the  account 
of  the  visit  of  St.  Paul  to  Ephesus,  in  the  nine- 
teenth chapter  of  the  Acts,  four  distinctive  names 
are  used.  The  first  instance' is  the  peculiar  word 
translated  in  the  authorized  version  as  "town 
clerk."  The  word  occurs  with  unusual  frequency 
on  the  Ephesian  coins.  The  second  is  furnished 
by  the  still  more  peculiar  word  translated  "wor- 
shipper." "The  city  of  the  Ephesians  is  a  worship- 
per of  the  great  goddess  Diana."  Acts  19 :  35.  The 
word  is  expressive  in  the  strongest  degree  of  ex- 
treme reverence   and  humility,  its  literal  meaning 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  233 

being  "a  temple  sweeper."  The  expression  is  found 
in  an  inscription  at  Ephesus.  The  third  instance 
is  the  application  of  the  distinctive  pro-consular 
title  to  the  governors  of  Asia,  both  the  coins  and 
the  inscriptions  confirming  the  fact  that  Asia  was  a 
pro-consular  province.  The  fourth  is  furnished  in 
the  one  compound  word  translated  "the  chiefs  of 
Asia."  The  original  word  is  "Asiarchs."  The  title 
belonged  to  the  presidents  of  the  public  games,  for 
which  Asia  in  general  and  Ephesus  in  particular 
were  famous.  They  were  persons  of  great  wealth, 
dignity,  and  influence,  and  are  represented  by 
St.  Luke  as  the  friendly  counsellors  of  the  great 
apostles. 

I  cannot  close  this  reference  to  the  verbal  accu- 
racy of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  without 
briefly  referring  to  two  other  topics.  Foremost  of 
these  is  the  account  given  by  St.  Luke  of  St.  Paul's 
voyage  towards  Home.  This  account  has  been 
laboriously  examined  and  carefully  compared  with 
known  facts  of  the  present  clay,  by  persons  profes- 
sionally conversant  with  nautical  matters.  The 
result  has  been,  not  only  to  establish  the  veritable 
and  trustworthy  character  of  the  narrative,  but  to 
enable  the  whole  voyage  to  be  traced  as  accurately 
as  if  a  log-book  of  the  particulars  had  been  handed 
down  from  that  day  to  this.  The  very  spot  has 
been  determined  on  which  the  necessary  action  of 
the  wind  and  current  would  cast  a  ship  situated  as 
was  the  Alexandrian  corn-ship  of  the  narrative ;  and 
this  particular  spot  is  found  exactly  to  correspond 
with  all  the  circumstances  of  St.  Luke's  narrative. 


234  GOD'S  WOED  WRITTEN. 

The  second  point  is  the  wonderful  particularity  with 
which  the  simple  incidental  notices  of  the  inspired 
narrative  depict  the  peculiar  features  of  Roman 
habits  and  civilization.  I  again  quote  the  language 
of  Mr.  Rawlinson:  "If  we  turn  to  Rome  and  the 
Roman  system,  how  truly  do  we  find  depicted  the 
great  and  terrible  emperor  whom  all  feared  to  pro- 
voke ;  the  provincial  administration  by  pro-consuls 
and  others,  chiefly  anxious  that  tumults  should  be 
prevented ;  the  contemptuous  religious  tolerance ; 
the  noble  principles  of  Roman  law,  professed  if  not 
always  acted  upon,  whereby  accusers  and  accused 
were  brought  face  to  face,  and  the  latter  had  'free 
license  to  answer  for  themselves  concerning  the 
crimes  laid  against  them,'  (Acts  25 :  16  ;)  the  privi- 
leges of  Roman  citizenship,  sometimes  acquired  by 
birth,  sometimes  by  purchase;  the  right  of  appeal 
possessed  and  exercised  by  the  provincials;  the 
treatment  of  prisoners;  the  peculiar  manner  of 
chaining  them ;  the  employment  of  soldiers  as  their 
guards;  the  examination  by  torture;  the  punish- 
ment of  condemned  persons  not  being  Roman  citi- 
zens by  scourging  and  crucifixion;  the  manner  of 
this  punishment,  the  practice  of  bearing  the  cross, 
of  affixing  a  title  or  superscription,  of  placing  sol- 
diers under  a  centurion  to  watch  the  carrying  into 
effect  of  the  sentence,  of  giving  the  garments  of  the 
sufferers  to  these  persons,  of  allowing  the  bodies 
after  death  to  be  buried  by  the  friends;  and  the 
like.  The  sacred  historians  are  as  familiar,  not 
only  with  the  general  character,  but  even  with  some 
of  the  obscurer  customs  of  Greece  and  Rome,  as 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  FACTS.  235 

with  those  of  their  own  country.  Fairly  observant 
and  always  faithful  in  their  accounts,  they  continu- 
ally bring  before  us  little  points  which  accord 
minutely  with  notices  in  profane  writers  nearly 
contemporary  with  them;  while  occasionally  they 
increase  our  knowledge  of  classic  antiquity  by 
touches  harmonious  with  the  spirit,  but  additional 
to  the  information  which  we  derive  from  the  native 
authorities."  (Rawlinson's  "Bampton  Lectures," 
p.  245.) 


236  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

CHAPTEK   XIV. 

THE   EVIDENCE   OF  EXPERIENCE. 

Supposed  Difficulties  proved  to  be  Real  Confirmations  of  the  Truth 
of  Scripture — Their  Origin  in  Human  Ignorance — Defective  or 
Erroneoiis  Information — Light  thrown  by  these  Instances  on 
Difficulties  still  unsolved — Instances  in  Detail — The  Truthful- 
ness of  Scripture  a  Common  Characteristic  of  all  its  Writers- 
Exhibited  in  Incidental  Particulars — Cannot  be  referred  to  the 
Personal  Information  of  the  Authors — Illustrated  in  Matters  of 
Detail — No  other  Mode  of  showing  it  Possible. 

The  preceding  chapter  was  occupied  with  in- 
stances of  minute  accuracy  on  the  part  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures.  Before  I  proceed  to  point  out 
the  characteristics  of  these  cases,  and  the  conclu- 
sion they  justify  us  in  forming,  the  argument  must 
be  further  strengthened  by  another  class  of  instan- 
ces. The  foregoing  have  not  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  skeptical  objection;  but  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  cases  exist  where  passages  ostentatiously 
paraded  as  evidences  of  mistakes  in  Scripture,  and 
as,  therefore,  conclusive  against  its  plenary  inspira- 
tion, have  been  found  on  fuller  information  to  bear 
the  most  positive  evidence  in  the  other  direction. 
The  importance  of  these  instances  is  great,  not 
simply  because  the  weapons  of  the  skeptic  have 
become  the  weapons  of  the  believer,  but  because  of 
the  truth  illustrated  by  this  very  transference  of 
the  argument  from  one  side  to  the  other ;  for  it  is 
now  proved  that  the  difficulty  experienced  in  recon- 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     237 

ciling  them  with  known  facts  was  exclusively  the 
product  of  human  ignorance.  The  information  on 
which  the  objection  was  based  was  either  erroneous 
or  defective. 

It  was  in  some  cases  erroneous,  and  this  in  spite 
of  apparent  ground  for  believing  in  its  accuracy. 
The  prejudice  entertained  by  many  critics  against 
Scripture,  and  the  disposition  to  prefer  any  other 
authority  to  the  authority  of  the  sacred  records  has, 
however,  been  illustrated  in  instances  where  this 
plea  of  apparent  credibility  can  scarcely  be  ad- 
vanced. I  may  adduce  in  proof  the  case  of  a  book 
entitled  "A  Million  of  Facts,"  and  which,  probably, 
from  the  multiplicity  of  its  subjects,  has  acquired  a 
circulation  even  among  Christian  people  engaged  in 
instructing  others  greatly  disproportioned  to  its  real 
merit.  In  this  publication,  among  other  strange 
things  of  the  same  character,  is  an  article  on  Jew- 
ish history,  in  which  the  entire  narrative  of  Moses 
is  quietly  rejected  on  the  authority  of  statements 
imputed  to  Sanchoniatho,  Diodorus  Siculus,  Taci~ 
tus,  Celsus,  and  others.  (P.  986.)  On  another  page 
it  is  explained  that  the  use  made  of  the  first  writer's 
authority  depends  wholly  on  the  supposition  that 
"  the  allies  of  Ilus  or  Chronus,  whom  he  called  Elo- 
him  after  Ilus,  were  Jews."  (P.  620.)  A  more  in- 
structive instance  of  the  tendency  of  many  writers 
to  give  more  authority  to  the  slightest  hint  of  a  pro- 
fane author,  than  to  the  most  explicit  and  circum- 
stantial statements  of  a  sacred  author,  cannot  well 
be  conceived.  For  let  it  be  supposed  that  Diodo- 
rus Siculus,  Tacitus,  Celsus,  and  Julian,  do  contra- 


238  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

diet  Moses  in  regard  to  the  early  history  of  the 
Hebrew  race,  yet  on  no  conceivable  principle  can  it 
be  pronounced  that  they  are  certainly  right,  and 
Moses  certainly  wrong.  Every  fair  canon  of  his- 
torical criticism  leans  decisively  to  the  other  side. 
This  case,  therefore,  illustrates  the  general  tendency 
to  treat  the  scriptural  books  with  foregone  prejudice. 
Instances  where  the  case  has  been  fairly  tried,  and 
the  veracity  of  Scripture  finally  established  beyond 
the  possibility  of  a  doubt,  constitute  its  strongest 
rebuke.  Let  it  be  allowed  that  there  was  apparent 
reason  on  the  other  side,  yet  the  stronger  these 
reasons  were  for  doubting  the  veracity  of  the  Bible, 
the  more  triumphant  is  the  testimony  borne  to  its 
inspiration  when  this  veracity  has  been  finally  estab- 
lished. 

Or  the  skeptical  objection  may  have  rested  on 
information,  accurate  as  far  as  it  went,  but  defec- 
tive ;  and  the  supply  on  this  one  deficient  point 
may  have  cleared  up  all  the  difficulty.  That  the 
omission  of  one  fact  out  of  a  series  will  make  the 
rest  unintelligible,  and  perhaps  apparently  contra- 
dictory, is  a  matter  within  familiar  experience.  The 
experiment  may  be  tried  by  a  little  exercise  of  the 
imagination.  As  it  is  important  that  this  truth 
should  be  clearly  seen,  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
adduce  an  illustration.  The  following  hi  stance  is 
quoted  by  Dr.  Lee  from  "Ebrard:"  "  On  the  even- 
ing of  Sept.  5,  1839,  a  rumor  prevailed  in  Zurich 
that  an  attack  was  to  be  apprehended  from  an 
armed  force.  The  greatest  commotion  was  excited, 
and  a  body  of  men  were  drawn  together  in  the  dis- 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPEEIENCE.     239 

trict  of  Pfaffikon  to  repel  the  attack.  The  rumor 
was  soon  found  to  be  without  any  foundation,  and 
means  were  taken  by  the  government  to  allay  the 
popular  tumult.  On  subsequently  inquiring  as  to 
these  events,  Ebrard  was  informed  by  one  person 
that  the  government  despatched  N.,  one  of  their 
number,  at  a  late  hour,  with  a  letter  to  Pfaffikon. 
On  another  occasion  Ebrard  was  told  by  a  second 
informant  that  N.,  after  going  a  short  distance, 
returned  with  the  intelligence  that  the  tocsin  was 
already  ringing  in  Pfaffikon.  A  third  related  that 
two  persons  on  horseback  had  been  despatched; 
while  a  fourth  averred  that  N.  had  sent  his  messen- 
gers on  horseback  to  the  disturbed  district.  If  ever 
four  accounts  appeared  irreconcilable,  these  do  so. 
And  if  a  harmonist  were  to  conjecture  that  N.  had 
been  sent  to  Pfaffikon,  that  he  had  been  met  on  the 
Zurichberg  by  two  peasants  coming  from  that  place, 
with  the  intelligence  that  the  people  were  already 
on  the  march ;  that  he  had  returned  with  them  to 
Zurich,  and  entering  the  neighboring  house  of  a 
magistrate,  had  caused  two  horses  to  be  at  once 
saddled,  and  commanded  the  peasants  to  ride  back 
in  haste  to  proclaim  peace ;  all  this  would,  no  doubt, 
be  set  down  as  a  highly  improbable  and  artificial 
conjecture.  And  yet  it  is  no  conjecture,  but  the 
simple,  true  account  which  N.  himself  gave  me  when 
I  asked  him  about  that  event." 

Now,  in  records  so  condensed  as  are  the  scrip- 
tural narratives,  and  dealing  as  many  of  them  do 
with  great  periods  of  time,  omission  more  or  less  is 
inevitable.     Yet  its  effect  may  be  to  lay  the  whole 


240  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

narrative  open  to  speculative  objections  by  some 
ingenious  mind  employed  in  analyzing  the  details 
in  order  to  impugn  their  accuracy.  In  such  a  case 
nothing  but  the  discovery  of  the  missing  fact  can 
with  absolute  certainty  make  the  narrative  com- 
plete. Without  it  we  might  be  able  to  show  that 
the  narrative  was  not  improbable,  because  such 
and  such  suppositions  would  render  it  congruous 
with  itself  and  consistent  with  the  probability.  In 
this  way  it  is  that  we  are  left  to  argue  in  many  in- 
stances. The  case  may  be  illustrated  by  a  dissected 
map.  Suppose  one  piece  of  the  map  to  be  absent, 
it  would  be  evidently  impossible  to  compose  the 
whole  map.  It  is  argued  that  these  pieces  remain- 
ing cannot  really  be  the  parts  of  one  complete  map, 
because  they  cannot  be  put  together  into  a  finished 
whole.  Another  person  might  fairly  reply  that  a 
piece  is  probably  absent,  and  might  suggest  the 
kind  and  shape  of  the  piece  which  would  render 
the  whole  map  consistent.  But  if  the  missing  piece 
were  actually  discovered,  the  proof  that  the  skepti- 
cal objection  was  inconclusive  would  not  only  be 
sound  argument,  but  would  become  veritable  and 
indisputable  fact.  This  is  exactly  the  evidence  fur- 
nished by  instances  where  passages  urged  as  the 
grounds  of  skeptical  objection  have  proved  to  be 
conclusive  arguments  on  the  other  side.  The  fol- 
lowing illustrations  are  presented : 

I.  Much  objection  has  been  made  to  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  Creation  on  the  ground  that  the  pro- 
duction of  light  on  the  first  day  was  contradictory 
to  the  creation  of  the  sun  and  moon  upon  the  fourth 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     241 

day.  It  was  commonly  supposed  that  the  sun  was 
the  source  of  light  to  our  globe,  and  it  appeared, 
therefore,  a  manifest  contradiction  to  describe  light 
as  existing  three  days  before  its  source.  The  au- 
thorized version  gave  apparent  force  to  the  argu- 
ment: "God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  darkness 
he  called  Night,"  was  the  record  of  the  creative 
work  of  the  first  day.  On  the  fourth  day,  we  are 
subsequently  told,  "  God  made  two  great  lights,  the 
greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to 
rule  the  night."  Gen.  1 : 5,  16.  The  objection  ap- 
peared to  be  conclusive,  and  constituted  one  of  the 
stock  arguments  of  the  earlier  forms  of  infidelifc}-. 
"How  did  God  make  light  before  the  sun?"  asked 
Voltaire  with  apparent  triumph,  repeating  the  ob- 
jection urged  by  Celsus  in  the  early  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity. "  Modern  astronomy  found  it  contrary  to 
order  that  the  earth  should  not  only  have  been  cre- 
ated before  the  sun,  but  should  also,  besides  day 
and  night,  have  distinction  of  the  elements  and 
vegetation  before  the  sun,"  were  the  words  of 
Strauss.  Kecent  investigation  has  not  only  suc- 
ceeded in  removing  the  difficulty,  but  in  the  remo- 
val has  confirmed  the  inspired  account,  by  virtue  of 
the  latent  scientific  truth  assumed  in  it.  A  more 
accurate  scholarship  has  on  one  side  corrected  the 
translation  of  Gen.  1 :  14-16.  The  word  translated 
light  is  really  light-bearers  or  luminaries,  instru- 
ments for  the  diffusion  of  light,  but  not  the  sources 
of  light  in  themselves.  On  the  other  side,  natural 
science  advanced  to  the  same  solution  by  successive 
stages.     First,  it  showed  that  the  transmission  of 

Ood'B  Wont  11 


242  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

light  to  our  globe  was  dependent  on  the  luminous 
atmosphere  surrounding  the  sun,  and  that,  npon 
what  is  called  the  nebular  hypothesis,  the  earth 
and  the  other  planets  of  our  system  must  necessa- 
rily have  been  constituted  before  the  sun  received 
the  luminous  atmosphere.  Then  it  began  to  accu- 
mulate evidence  confirmatory  of  the  fact  that  light 
existed  independently  of  the  sun,  and  consisted  of 
the- undulations  of  a  luminous  ether.  The  latest 
theory  maintains  that  the  body  of  the  sun  is  simply 
an  irritant,  having  the  property  of  setting  the  un- 
dulations of  this  ether  into  motion,  but  wholly 
devoid  of  light  in  itself.  Light  is,  therefore,  no 
longer  an  emanation  from  the  sun,  but  exists 
independently  of  it.  Thus,  the  inspired  narration 
is  not  only  consistent  with  science,  but  actually  em- 
bodies its  latest  discoveries,  and  therefore  must  be 
held  to  have  anticipated  them  by  more  than  three 
thousand  years. 

II.  In  Genesis  10 : 8  we  are  told  that  the  earliest 
inhabitants  of  the  great  alluvial  plain  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  were  of  Ethiopian 
origin.  "Cush  begat  Nimrod  .  .  .  and  the  begin- 
ning of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and 
Accad,  and  Calneh  in  the  land  of  Shinar."  The 
great  majority  of  modern  ethnologists  have  held  an 
opinion  directly  contradictory  to  the  scriptural 
statement.  They  believed  them  to  be  Aranmeans, 
sprung  from  Shein,  and  not  from  Ham,  the  father 
of  Cush.  A  whole  array  of  great  names  supported 
this  conclusion  with  the  utmost  confidence.  The 
contradiction  thus  given  to  Scripture  was  supported 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     243 

by  affinities  of  language  between  the  Babylonians 
of  the  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  the  Hebrews, 
and  by  the  close  international  connection  existing 
between  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians.  So  irre- 
fragable were  these  arguments  held  to  be,  that  the 
attempt  to  maintain  the  accuracy  of  the  Biblical 
account  was  scouted  almost  with  contempt.  And 
yet  it  is  now  certain  that  the  Bible  is  right,  and  the 
ethnologists  wrong.  The  mounds  of  Chaldaoa  have 
been  recently  explored,  and  inscriptions  have  been 
discovered  proving  that  the  language  of  ancient 
Babylonia  was  not  the  language  of  the  times  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  but  belonged  to  a  different  family, 
and  this  family  Cnshite  or  Ethiopian.  With  such  a 
remarkable  instance  at  hand,  no  one  need  be  afraid 
of  putting  the  accuracy  of  the  inspired  Scripture  in 
points  of  minute  detail  against  the  rash  conclusions 
of  a  science  which  is  at  present  imperfect  in  its 
facts,  and  therefore  hasty  and  inconsequent  in  its 
conclusions. 

III.  In  Joshua  8 :  33  we  find  an  account  of  the 
reading  of  the  law  by  Joshua  in  the  hearing  of  the 
people  along  the  sides  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  and  in 
the  valley  lying  between  them:  "All  Israel,  and 
their  elders,  and  officers,  and  their  judges,  stood  on 
this  side  the  ark  and  on  that  side  before  the  priests 
the  Levites,  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of 
the  Lord,  as  well  the  stranger,  as  he  that  was  born 
among  them ;  half  of  them  over  against  mount  Geri- 
zim, and  half  of  them  over  against  mount  Ebal." 
The  space  between  the  two  hills  is  considerable, 
and  it  has  been  thought  to  be  absurd  to  suppose 


244  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

that  the  assembled  people  could  have  heard,  under 
these  circumstances,  the  voice  of  Joshua,  and  still 
more  that  they  could  have  carried  out  the  instruction 
of  Moses,  given,  it  should  be  remembered,  before 
the  entrance  into  the  land,  that  the  people,  divided 
into  two  parties,  should  ratify  with  a  loud  "amen" 
the  justice  of  the  Divine  commandments.  Yet  it 
has  been  discovered  that  this  particular  spot,  under 
the  sides  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  possesses  such  spe- 
cial acoustic  properties  as  to  have  made  a  trans- 
action wholly  credible  here  which  would  have  been 
justly  incredible  elsewhere.  The  sides  of  Gerizim 
especially  are  steep,  and  broken  by  caves  and  cells, 
which  serve  to  collect  and  repeat  the  sound.  The 
Rev.  H.  B.  Tristram  writes:  "A  single  voice  may 
be  heard  by  many  thousands  shut  in  and  conveyed 
up  and  down  by  the  enclosing  hills.  In  the  early 
morning  we  could  not  only  see  from  Gerizim  a  man 
driving  his  ass  clown  a  path  in  mount  Ebal,  but 
could  hear  every  word  he  uttered  as  he  urged  it  on ; 
and  in  order  to  test  the  matter  more  certainly,  on  a 
subsequent  occasion,  two  of  our  party  stationed 
themselves  on  opposite  sides  of  the  valley,  and  with 
perfect  ease  recited  the  commandments  antipho- 
nally."  A  similar  statement  will  be  found  in  an 
interesting  and  valuable  work  on  Scripture  lands 
by  Eev.  G.  S.  Drew. 

This  instance  naturally  carries  the  thoughts  for- 
ward to  the  astonishing  harmony  existing  between 
the  geography  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  the  events  of 
the  exodus  and  the  wanderings.  The  rocky  plat- 
form of  Sinai,  for  instance,  strikes  every  observer 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     245 

by  its  wonderful  adaptation  to  such  a  purpose  as 
the  giving  of  the  law.  Thus  Dean  Stanley  writes : 
"  The  whole  impression  of  that  long  approach  was 
even  more  wonderful  than  I  had  anticipated.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  scene  of  the  events  of  the 
exodus,  I  cannot  imagine  that  any  human  being 
could  pass  up  that  plain,  and  not  feel  that  he  was 
entering  a  place  above  all  others  suited  for  the  most 
august  of  the  sights  of  earth."  Lack  of  space  makes 
it  impossible  to  enter  largely  upon  this  subject;  but 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  as  the  natural  ground- 
work from  which  points  of  special  and  minute  accu- 
racy are  thrown  into  notice.  Where  the  whole  broad 
platform  of  the  history  is  found  to  correspond  with 
existing  things,  the  most  minute  accuracy  of  details 
is  no  more  than  may  consistently  be  expected. 

IY.  Deuteronomy  3  contains  an  account  of  the 
conquest  of  the  lands  east  of  the  Jordan.  Among 
the  conquests  effected  at  that  time  was  the  over- 
throw of  Og,  the  giant  king  of  Bashan,  and  the  cap- 
ture of  his  cities.  "  We  took  all  his  cities  at  that 
time,  there  was  not  a  city  which  we  took  not  from 
them,  threescore  cities,  all  the  region  of  Argob,  the 
kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan.  All  these  cities  were 
fenced  with  high  walls,"  gates,  and  bars;  besides 
unwalled  towns  a  great  many."  The  province  of 
Argob,  the  Trachonitis  of  the  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures, measures  not  more  than  thirty  miles  by 
twenty.  The  existence  of  so  large  a  number  of 
cities  within  so  narrow  an  area  appeared  to  main- 
persons  to  be  absolutely  incredible ;  and  the  feeling, 
on  human  grounds,  was  not  altogether  unnatural. 


246  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Tlic  exploration  of  this  region  is  a  work  of  extreme 
difficulty  and  danger,  and  it  is  only  within  the  last 
few  years  that  Mr.  Cyril  Graham,  Mr.  Porter,  and  a 
few  others,  have  succeeded  in  partially  penetrating 
it.  Enough,  however,  has  been  discovered  to  con- 
firm in  a  very  remarkable  manner  the  inspired  nar- 
rative. The  cities  are  still  there.  Unlike  the 
ancient  cities  of  Palestine  in  general,  they  still  sur- 
vive, some  of  them  complete  as  when  they  were  first 
built.  They  are  cities  desolate  and  without  inhab- 
itants, crowding  the  plains  and  hills  of  Bashan  far 
and  wide  with  their  ruins,  the  silent  witnesses  to 
the  truth  of  the  word  of  God.  "That  one  city," 
writes  Mr.  Porter,  "nurtured  by  the  commerce  of  a 
mighty  empire,  might  grow  till  her  people  could  be 
numbered  by  millions,  I  could  well  believe.  That 
two  or  even  three  great  commercial  cities  might 
spring  up  in  favored  localities,  almost  side  by  side, 
I  could  believe  too.  But  that  sixty  walled  cities, 
besides  unwalled  towns  a  great  many,  should  exist 
in  a  small  province,  at  such  a  remote  age,  far  from 
the  sea,  with  no  rivers  and  little  commerce,  appear- 
ed to  be  inexplicable.  Inexplicable,  mysterious 
though  it  appeared,  it  was  true.  On  the  spot,  with 
my  own  eyes,  I  had  now  verified  it.  A  list  of  more 
than  one  hundred  ruined  cities  and  villages  situated 
in  these  mountains  alone  I  had  in  my  hands,  and 
on  the  spot  I  had  tested  it  and  found  it  accurate, 
though  not  complete." 

V.  In  2  Kings  20:12  we  read,  "At  that  time 
Berodach-baladan,  the  son  of  Baladan,  king  of 
Babylonia,  sent  letters  and  a  present  unto  Heze- 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPEEIENCE.     247 

kiah."  The  statement  is  repeated  less  circumstan- 
tially in  Isaiah  39 : 1,  with  the  sole  difference  that 
the  Babylonian  king's  name  is  written  Merodach- 
baladan.  To  this  statement  it  was  objected  that 
there  was  no  such  king,  and  that  Babylonia  did  not 
constitute  a  separate  monarchy  in  the  days  of  Hezo- 
kiah.  Further  inquiry,  however,  brought  to  light  a 
statement  of  the  Ephesian  historian,  Polyhistor,  to 
the  effect  that  Merodach-baladan  was  a  usurper, 
who  reigned  at  Babylon  for  six  months,  and  was 
overthrown  by  Sennacherib.  The  answer  was  thus 
complete.  But  the  Babylonian  inscriptions  have 
now  carried  our  information  much  farther.  The 
annals  of  Tiglath-pileser  record  that  on  the  inva- 
sion of  Mesopotamia  by  that  prince,  the  country  on 
the  seacoast  was  under  the  dominion  of  Merodach- 
baladan,  who  made  his  submission  to  the  Assyrian 
monarch,  and  retained  his  own  authority  as  a  vas- 
sal king  on  payment  of  a  tribute.  During  the  reign 
of  Shalmaneser,  the  successor  of  Tiglath-pileser,  tho 
monuments  afford  no  information  of  the  relations 
between  Babylon  and  Assyria ;  but  on  the  success- 
ful usurpation  of  Sargon,  Babylonia  revolted  and 
placed  itself  under  the  independent  government  of 
Merodach-baladan.  After  a  reign  of  twelve  years, 
this  king  was  conquered  by  Sargon;  but  on  the 
death  of  Sargon,  again  revolted,  and  was  finally 
overthrown  by  Sennacherib.  Thus  the  veracity  of 
the  Bible  in  this  one  isolated  mention  of  a  Babylo- 
nian monarch,  of  whom  nothing  was  known  till  tho 
buried  monuments  of  the  past  again  found  voice,  is 
literally  and  indisputably  established. 


248  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

VI.  Daniel^j  records  the  capture  of  Babylon  by 
the  Persians,  and  the  death  of  Belshazzar,  the  king 
of  the  Chaldeans.  On  two  other  occasions  he  marks 
the  date  of  visions  by  "the  years  of  the  reign  of 
king  Belshazzar,"  in  which  they  occurred.  It  is 
objected  that  these  references  are  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  the  statements  of  the  Babylonian  historian 
Berosus,  who  records  that  the  last  Babylonian  mon- 
arch, Nabonadius,  shut  himself  up  in  Borsippa,  and 
was  there  taken  after  the  capture  of  Babylon.  But 
the  inscriptions  on  the  Babylonian  cylinders  again 
confirm  the  absolute  truth  of  Scripture.  At  two 
different  places  have  cylinders  been  found  in  which 
the  name  occurs  of  Belsarussar  or  Belshareser. 
He  is  stated  to  have  been  the  eldest  son  of  Nabona- 
dius, to  have  been  associated  with  him  in  the  king- 
dom, and  to  have  been  slain  at  the  capture  of  Baby- 
lon. The  facts  are  stated  by  Sir  H.  Piawlinson  to 
receive  further  and  independent  corroboration  from 
"the  inscription  of  Bisutan,  in  that  the  impostor 
who  caused  the  Babylonians  to  revolt  against  Dari- 
us Hystaspes,  and  who  personated  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  did  not  take  the  name  of  the  eldest  son  of 
Nabonadius  Belsharczer,  but  of  the  second  son, 
Nabukudurusur." 

VII.  The  preceding  instances  have  been  taken 
from  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  and  their  num- 
ber has  only  been  limited  by  the  rule  already  ex- 
plained, that  such  instances  only  should  be  given 
(1)  as  consist  of  minute  points  of  details;  (2)  as 
admit  of  positive  evidence  from  profane  sources. 
In  passing  from  the  Old  into  the  New  Testament, 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     249 

it  is  worth  our  notice  that  the  instances  under  the 
present  head  are  fewer  just  in  proportion  as  our 
information  relative  to  this  period  is  more  full  and 
precise.  This  comparative  paucity  of  instances 
arises  from  no  want  of  exact  correspondence  be- 
tween the  scriptural  narrative  and  the  known  facts 
of  history ;  for  it  has  been  shown  in  the  preceding 
chapter  that  the  New  Testament  writings  are  pecu- 
liarly rich  in  evidence  of  this  kind.  It  arises  from 
this  very  abundance  of  corroborative  evidence, 
which  has  so  narrowed  the  circle  of  possible  objec- 
tion, that  the  cases  are  very  few  indeed  where 
the  slightest  positive  evidence  has  been  produced 
against  the  minute  veracity  of  Scripture.  Instances 
where  apparent  objections  against  the  truth  of 
Scripture  have  been  converted  into  positive  evi- 
dences in  favor  of  it  are  few,  simply  and  solely 
because  the  instances  even  of  apparent  inaccuracy 
are  few.  This  tacit  evidence  is  itself  well  worthy  of 
being  remembered. 

VIII.  Among  the  few  instances  where  historical 
inaccuracy  has  been  alleged  against  the  New  Tes- 
tament writings,  the  case  of  Quirinus  or  Cyrenius, 
governor  of  Syria,  stands  prominent.  St.  Luke, 
referring  to  the  decree  issued  by  Caesar  Augustus 
that  all  the  Roman  empire  should  be  taxed,  adds 
that  "  this  taxing  was  first  made  when  Cyrenius  was 
governor  of  Syria,"  Luke  2 :  2.  Now  Josephus  states 
that  he  was  made  governor  after  the  banishment  of 
Archelaus,  A.  D.  6 ;  consequently  the  taxing  which 
took  Joseph  and  Mary  to  the  city  of  David  before 
the  birth  of  Mary's  "first-born  Son,"  could  not  have 
IP 


250  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

been  made  under  a  governor  who  did  not  accede  to 
power  till  six  years  afterwards.  A  large  variety  of 
suppositions  have  been  offered  to  remove  this  ap- 
parent contradiction  between  Josephus  and  St.  Luke. 
But  a  discovery  has  recently  been  made  by  A.  "W. 
Zumpt,  of  Berlin,  which  removes  the  very  ground  of 
the  apparent  discrepancy.  By  a  process  of  argu- 
ment alike  marked  by  its  singular  ingenuity,  and  by 
the  forcible  array  of  facts  on  which  it  is  based,  he 
has  proved  that  Cyrenius  was  twice  governor  of 
Syria.  He  has  even  been  able,  by  an  exhaustive 
process,  to  prove  that  his  first  period  of  office  was 
from  the  year  B.  c.  4  to  B.  c.  1,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  M.  Lolius.  Consequently,  not  only  is  the 
objection  removed,  since  the  statement  of  St.  Luke 
and  the  statement  of  Josephus  may  both  be  true, 
but  a  positive  evidence  is  afforded  for  the  minute 
accuracy  of  St.  Luke  ;  for  if  Cyrenius  was  governor 
during  the  years  b.  c.  4  to  B.  c.  1,  the  taxing  which 
brought  Joseph  and  Mary  to  Bethlehem  must  have 
been  "  first  made  when  Cyrenius  was  governor  of 
Syria. 

IX.  Another  notable  instance  has  already  been 
alluded  to  among  the  indisputable  proofs  of  scrip- 
tural accuracy,  aud  must  therefore  be  but  briefly 
touched  in  the  character  now  presented,  of  an  ob- 
jection converted  into  an  evidence.  I  refer  to  the 
pro-consular  title  given  b}T  St.  Luke  in  the  thir- 
teenth chapter  of  the  Acts  to  Sergius  Paulus,  the 
governor  of  Cyprus.  It  was  objected  that  the  title 
was  improperly  applied  to  him.  This  allegation 
was  based  on  the  statement  of  Dio  Cassius  that  the 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     251 

emperor  Augustus  retained  Cyprus  as  an  imperial 
province,  and  that  it  would  consequently  be  gov- 
erned by  a  pro-pr»tor,  and  not  by  a  pro-consul. 
But  the  historian  goes  on  to  explain  that  an  ex- 
change of  provinces  took  place  between  the  emperor 
and  the  senate,  in  which  Cyprus  was  transferred 
from  the  emperor  to  the  senate.  It  would,  there- 
fore, be  governed  by  a  pro-consul ;  and  the  fact  is 
confirmed  by  the  discovery  of  Cyprian  coins  bearing 
the  very  title  used  by  the  sacred  historian. 

A  review  of  the  instances  given  in  the  present 
and  in  the  preceding  chapter  will  exhibit  in  them 
the  following  characteristics: 

1.  The  minute  veracity  illustrated  by  them  is 
not  confined  to  a  single  book,  or  to  a  single  writer, 
or  to  a  single  section  of  the  scriptural  writings. 
Instances  have  been  given  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  from  the  New.  The  instances  from  the 
Old  comprise  passages  from  the  Pentateuch,  from 
Joshua  and  Judges,  from  the  books  of  Kings  and 
Chronicles,  from  the  prophets  Isaiah  and  Daniel. 
The  New  Testament  instances  are  gathered  alike 
from  the  gospels  and  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
The  veracity  of  Scripture  is  not  confined  to  these 
instances.  They  are  but  particular  illustrations — 
cases  where  sufficient  information  has  been  given 
from  independent  sources  to  enable  us  to  prove 
to  moral  demonstration  the  accuracy  of  the  sacred 
narrative.  These  cases  are  found  wherever  the 
books  themselves  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  deal 
with  facts  in  detail.  They  show,  therefore,  that  the 
accurate  truthfulness  of  Scripture  is  not  a  quality 


252  GOD'S  WOBD  WRITTEN. 

of  one  or  two  individual  writers,  but  tlie  quality 
of  the  Scriptures  in  general.  It  is  not,  therefore, 
the  result  of  any  thing  personal  to  the  individual 
man,  but  of  some  general  influence,  of  which  they 
partake  in  common. 

2.  This  accuracy  has  been  traced  in  particulars 
which  are  more  or  less  incidental  to  the  main  ob- 
ject of  the  narrative.  They  refer  to  details  which 
a  human  writer,  diffident  of  the  extent  of  his  own 
knowledge,  might  have  omitted  altogether,  or  in 
regard  to  which  an  indefinite  expression  might 
have  been  selected,  or  where  a  bold  or  careless 
writer  might  have  added  particulars  at  haphazard. 
For,  on  the  supposition  of  the  skeptic,  that  the 
scriptural  books  are  human  compositions,  it  is  im- 
possible that  their  authors  could  ever  have  antici- 
pated for  their  productions  that  prodigious  circula- 
tion and  world-wide  importance  which  they  have 
actually  attained.  They  could  not,  therefore,  have 
supposed  that  their  works  would  ever  have  been 
submitted  to  such  a  sifting  and  reiterated  criticism 
as  skepticism  on  one  side  and  faith  on  the  other 
have  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  Comparative 
carelessness  as  to  details  would  have  been  perfectly 
natural  to  them.  For  instance,  whether  the  path  of 
the  discomfited  Canaanites  was  an  ascent  towards 
Bethboron  as  far  as  Azekah,  and  a  descent  be}*ond — 
whether  the  sons  of  Sennacherib  fled  into  Armenia 
or  any  other  neighboring  country  —  whether  the 
Jewish  captives  of  Sargon  were  carried  to  Babylon 
or  elsewhere  —  are  points  incidental  to  the  main 
purpose  of  the  narrative.     They  are,  therefore,  ex- 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     253 

actly  the  points  by  which,  for  this  very  reason,  the 
veracity  of  a  narrative  and  the  extent  of  knowledge 
displayed  in  it  are  most  conclusively  shown. 

3.  Many  of  these  details  are  such  as  could  not 
possibly  have  fallen  within  the  personal  knowledge 
of  the  writer,  and  for  which  no  effort  of  memory  nor 
extent  of  information  can  account.  For  instance, 
Moses  could  not  possibly  have  known  out  of  his 
own  knowledge  the  line  of  descent  of  the  ancient 
Babylonians,  nor  have  selected  Ebal  and  Gerizim 
for  the  public  recitation  of  the  law  from  any  indi- 
vidual acquaintance  with  the  acoustic  properties  of 
the  spot.  The  flight  of  Adrammelech  and  Share- 
zer  into  Armenia  could  not  have  fallen  within  the 
knowledge  of  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Kings.  Nor 
is  it  conceivable  that  the  political  arrangements  of 
the  Roman  empire  should  have  been  so  minutely 
known  to  St.  Luke  as  to  enable  him  to  exhibit  from 
his  own  individual  human  information  the  minute 
accuracy  distinguishing  his  history.  No  doubt  there 
were  sources  of  information  open  to  them  of  which 
they  may  have  availed  themselves,  but  there  is  no 
source  of  historical  error  so  common  as  reliance 
upon  hearsay  information.  How  is  it  that  they 
selected  just  that  information,  and  that  only,  on 
points  equally  numerous  and  varied,  which  was 
true  to  the  utmost  limits  of  accuracy?  Whether 
we  regard  them  as  recording  facts  lying  beyond 
the  range  of  their  own  knowledge,  or  as  supple- 
menting their  own  information  by  the  information 
of  others,  in  either  case  there  must  have  been 
some  help  common  to  the  whole  series  of  writers, 


254  GOD'S  WOBD  WRITTEN. 

and  over  and  above  human  prudence  and  discrimi- 
nation. 

4.  The  instances  given  are  all,  without  excep- 
tion, drawn  from  matters  of  detail.  The  passages 
furnishing  them  do  not  deal  with  the  sublime  doc- 
trines of  the  faith,  but  with  their  human  setting  in 
the  history  of  the  Hebrew  race  and  of  the  world  at 
large.  The}'  are  taken  from  that  class  of  subjects 
which  some  men  are  disposed  to  exclude  from  the 
proper  topics  of  Divine  inspiration.  The  doctrines 
of  the  Bible  thej  acknowledge  to  have  been  com- 
municated by  God,  but  not  the  historical  facts;  }'et 
it  is  not  in  the  doctrines,  but  in  the  historical  facts 
alone,  that  these  proofs  of  the  truth  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  are  furnished  to  us. 

Further,  it  should  be  noted  that  this  limitation 
is  just  what  might  have  been  expected,  and  arises 
from  the  nature  of  the  case.  We  believe  the  truth 
of  Scripture  everywhere,  and  the  belief  is  justified 
by  solid  reasons;  but  it  is  not  everywhere  that  we 
can  prove  it  in  detail.  This,  I  repeat,  is  natural; 
for  as  the  sublime  doctrines  of  the  faith  lie  beyond 
the  reach  of  human  discovery,  so  they  lie  beyond 
the  reach  of  human  proof.  Let  it  be  supposed  that 
the  Divine  Author  of  the  Bible  was  mercifully 
pleased  to  confirm  the  faith  of  mankind  in  the 
truth  of  his  revealed  word  by  proofs  drawn  from 
independent  sources  within  human  knowledge  and 
discovery.  It  is  only  in  the  minute  historical  facts 
that  verification  could,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be 
possible.  It  must  be  in  history,  because  this  alone 
admits  of  undeniable  moral  evidence.     It  must  be 


THE  EVIDENCE  OF  EXPERIENCE.     255 

in  definite  and  therefore  minute  particulars,  because 
otherwise  chance,  and  not  intelligent  design,  might 
be  alleged  to  be  its  cause.  The  proof  must  be 
afforded  in  exactly  the  manner  we  find  to  be  the 
case,  and  could  be  given  in  no  other  way. 

I  submit  that  we  have  in  this  fact  a  new  expla- 
nation of  the  reason  why  the  same  revelation  should 
contain  the  sublimest  doctrines  and  yet  the  small- 
est details.  The  dependence  of  the  doctrines  for 
their  verification  upon  the  little  historical  details 
with  which,  as  I  have  shown,  they  are  inseparably 
interwoven,  only  confirms  the  arguments  already 
adduced  for  unity  of  authorship,  and  therefore  for 
identity  of  authority  for  the  wdiole  Scriptures. 

But  one  other  conclusion  must  be  asserted  be- 
fore we  pass  on  to  the  next  stage  of  the  inquiry.  It 
has  been  shown  that  Scripture  is  wonderfully  accu- 
rate in  details,  and  that  where  ground  has  appa- 
rently existed  for  impugning  its  accuracy,  further 
information  has  confirmed  the  Scripture,  and  proved 
the  objections  urged  against  it  to  be  only  the  prod- 
uct of  human  ignorance.  Mistaken  or  defective 
information  on  our  own  part,  not  on  the  part  of 
the  Bible,  has  been  the  source  of  all  the  difficulty. 
It  is  therefore  natural  to  conclude  that  what  further 
information  has  done  for  some  difficulties,  it  would 
do,  should  it  be  vouchsafed  to  us,  for  all.  That 
some  things  in  Scripture  should  appear  obscure  to 
us  is  natural,  if  we  judge  the  Scripture  simply  as  we 
judge  any  other  old  book.  "We  can,  moreover, 
understand  that  if  Scripture  be  a  revelation  from 
God,    at   once    intended    to    communicate    saving 


25(5  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

knowledge,  and  to  be  the  instrument  of  moral  pro- 
bation, God  might  in  perfect  consistency  intention- 
ally leave  some  difficulties  to  exercise  faith  and 
discipline  submission.  To  accept  the  authority  of 
Scripture  as  a  Divine  revelation,  although  it  con- 
tains some  things  we  cannot  understand,  is  so  far 
from  being  unreasonable,  that  reason  herself  com- 
pels us  to  this  conclusion.  Multiplied  proofs  are 
afforded  us  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  As  a  matter 
of  indisputable  fact,  objections  against  its  accuracy, 
in  some  cases  apparently  well  founded,  have  been 
found  to  arise  solely  from  ignorance  in  ourselves. 
Hence  we  are  justified  in  judging  of  the  future  by 
the  experience  of  the  past.  Not  only  do  we  assert 
that  no  mistake  has  ever  been  proved  to  exist  in 
Scripture,  but  we  proclaim  likewise  our  conviction 
that  no  mistake  ever  will  be  found  in  it.  We  lift 
up  our  hearts  to  God,  and  exclaim  with  the  psalm- 
ist, "Thy  word  is  true  from  the  beginning:  and 
every  one  of  thy  righteous  judgments  endureth  for 
ever'/'     Psalm  il9:lG0. 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  257 


CHAPTER   XV. 

ALLEGED  INSTANCES  OF  INACCURACY  IN 
SCRIPTURE  EXAMINED   AND   EXPLAINED. 

The  Proofs  alleged  for  and  against  the  Accuracy  of  the  Sacred 
Books  compared  with  Reference  to  their  Character  and  Relative 
Value — The  Supposed  Inaccuracies  resolved  into  Mistakes  re- 
specting the  Human  Element  and  its  Operation — Rules  for 
testing  Them — Interpolations  and  Errors  in  Transcription — 
Figures  of  Speech — Variations  of  Statement  —  Omission  of 
Facts — Differences  of  Style — Analogous  Transactions  and  Dis- 
courses— A  -priori  Probabilities. 

The  facts  specified  in  the  last  two  chapters,  and 
the  conclusion  founded  upon  them,  must  be  borne 
in  mind  in  passing  from  the  positive  to  the  negative 
side  of  the  controversy.  Hitherto  attention  has 
been  directed  to  the  evidences  confirmatory  of  the 
minute  accuracy  of  the  sacred  writings.  Attention 
must  now  be  directed  to  the  evidences  adduced  in 
disproof  of  it,  in  order  that  both  sides  of  the  argu- 
ment may  be  taken  into  account  and  fairly  balanced 
against  each  other,  before  the  final  conclusion  is 
reached.  To  examine  into  the  character  and  value 
of  these  asserted  disproofs  will  be  the  object  of  the 
present  chapter.  In  entering  upon  the  examination 
there  is  manifest  reason  why  both  the  facts  and  the 
conclusion  already  considered  should  be  kept  con- 
stantly in  mind. 

Without  bearing  the  facts  in  mind,  no  fair  esti- 
mate can  be  formed  of  the  comparative  weight  due 


258  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

to  the  two  opposite  classes  of  evidences.  It  is  not 
enough  to  count  objections,  and  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion by  the  numerical  balance  of  one  side  over  the 
other :  their  worth  must  be  taken  into  account. 
One  conclusive  proof  will  outweigh  a  thousand 
inconclusive  objections.  It  may  be  that  the  two 
classes  of  evidence  differ  widely  in  their  character, 
and  that  the  one  may  be  ay  rich  in  claims  for  credi- 
bility as  the  other  may  be  devoid  of  them. 

This  is  actually  the  case.  The  instances  of 
scriptural  veracity  already  adduced  rest  upon  proofs 
wholly  independent  of  themselves,  and  absolutely 
above  suspicion.  The  inspired  statement  has  been 
placed  on  one  side,  and  the  proof  of  its  accuracy 
over  against  it  on  the  other.  This  proof  has  been 
very  largely  drawn  from  material  monuments  of  the 
past.  Ruined  cities — the  very  sites  of  which  had 
been  forgotten  for  ages — have  been  called,  as  it 
were,  out  of  their  grave.  Their  remains  are  found 
to  be  so  rich  in  written  history  as  to  enable  us  to 
reconstruct  the  past  as  it  was  never  known  to  us 
before.  The  restless  spirit  of  modern  investigation 
has  deciphered  them,  and  gathered  from  them,  over 
and  over  again,  the  exact  corroboration  of  the  literal 
truth  of  Scripture.  These  are  witnesses  that  cannot 
be  charged  with  prejudice :  the  vain-glorious  records 
of  a  past  ambition  are  beyond  all  possible  suspicion 
of  partiality.  Here,  as  in  other  sources  of  infor- 
mation less  wonderful  but  equally  trustworthy,  not 
only  do  we  find  the  general  references  of  Scripture 
to  profane  history  confirmed  without  one  single  fail- 
ure, but  we  find  minute  particulars  of  person,  place, 


ALLEGED  INACCUKACIES.  259 

and  date,  and  little  details  of  personal  adventure 
and  natural  history,  all  corroborated  even  to  a  mar- 
vel. So  complete  is  the  proof,  that  the  Christian  is 
filled  with  adoring  gratitude  to  the  providence  which 
not  only  so  moulded  national  character  and  habit  as 
to  cause  these  inscriptions  to  be  made,  but  which 
has  also  preserved  them  intact  through  intervening 
ages,  and  now  laid  the  marvellous  pages  open  to  the 
instruction  of  an  age  peculiarly  critical  and  inquisi- 
tive. Such  evidence  as  this  removes  the  instances 
enumerated  out  of  the  category  of  probable  argu- 
ments into  that  of  demonstrative  facts.  The  case  is  ' 
not,  therefore,  that  the  believer  in  Divine  revelation 
asserts  the  sacred  Scriptures  to  be  true,  but  it  is, 
that  in  many  specified  instances  their  truth  is 
proved,  not  only  beyond  the  possibility  of  disproof, 
but  even  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt. 

We  have,  therefore,  a  right  to  require  evidence 
equally  conclusive  in  its  character  on  the  other  side. 
The  resources  of  an  age  rich  in  antiquarian  discov- 
ery and  historic  information  could  not  fail  to  supply 
the  material  for  this  evidence,  if  any  inaccuracy  of 
Scripture  had  rendered  its  existence  possible.  We 
ask  for  some  record  of  authentic  history — for  some 
monument  of  the  ancient  past — for  some  inscription 
of  the  days  that  are  gone,  which  contradicts  in  any 
one  clear  point  any  one  clear  statement  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures — those  Scriptures  which  are  so 
contemptuously  declared  to  be  a  mere  patchwork  of 
old  myths  and  traditions,  unhistorical  and  incredi- 
ble !  We  say,  If  it  be  so,  show  us  the  proof  of  it. 
Where  is  the  false  fact,  the  historical  anachronism, 


200  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  contradiction  of  known  events?  And  where, 
among  the  multitudinous  "witnesses  of  the  past,  is 
the  evidence  to  make  conviction  complete  and  denial 
impossible  ? 

AVe  ask  in  vain  for  any  such  proof.  It  is  a 
memorable  fact  that  not  one  such  instance  has  been 
found.  There  is  not  a  solitary  fact  disproved  by  the 
silent  evidence  of  the  monuments  of  Egypt,  Assyria, 
Babylon,  or  Persia.  The  positive  proof  stands  alone, 
and  not  a  single  witness  is  found  to  raise  a  voice  on 
the  other  side.  Doubts,  cavils,  suspicions,  conjec- 
tures, we  have  in  abundance;  but  positive  evidence 
we  have  actually  none. 

In  its  room  we  are  confronted  with  a  host  of 
shadowy  objections,  resting  largely  on  arbitrary 
assumption  and  personal  opinion.  One  part  of 
Scripture  is  laboriously  forced  into  opposition  to 
another  part.  Speculative  judgments  are  advanced 
as  to  what  the  sacred  writers,  and  the  Spirit  who 
inspired  them,  knew  or  did  not  know,  expressed  or 
meant  to  express.  Individual  variations  of  man- 
ner, style,  and  narration,  are  treated  as  irreconcila- 
ble contradictions.  Facts  are  summarily  denied, 
and  doctrines  contempt nously  discarded,  on  the 
sole  authority  of  an  alleged  critical  instinct.  But  in 
all  these  cases  a  course  of  speculative  reasoning 
is  substituted  for  the  evidence  of  facts,  and  this 
reasoning,  however  honest,  is  tainted  with  human 
ignorance,  fallibility,  and  prejudice.  Alleged  proofs 
of  such  a  kind  cannot  be  placed  side  by  side,  even 
for  ,t  moment,  with  the  demonstrable  facts  which 
confirm,  on  the  positive  side  of  the  argument,  the 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  261 

singular  and,  under  the  circumstances,  superhuman 
accuracy  of  the  sacred  writings. 

But  here  comes  in  the  conclusion  already  drawn 
from  these  undeniable  facts.  The  familiar  instances 
where  apparent  difficulties  have  been  converted  on 
fuller  information  into  real  harmonies  show  that,  in 
these  cases  at  all  events,  the  difficulty  arose  solely 
from  human  ignorance.  We  are  therefore  not  only 
justified,  but  compelled  to  form  the  conclusion  that 
what  is  true  in  these  cases  is,  in  all  probability,  true 
in  other  cases  likewise.  Supposing  it  to  be  admit- 
ted that  a  certain  number  of  insoluble  difficulties 
still  present  themselves  in  Scripture,  we  must  be- 
lieve that  defect  of  information  is  their  producing 
cause,  and  that,  could  the  defect  be  supplied,  these 
cases,  like  others,  would  turn  out  to  be  convincing- 
proofs  of  the  veracity  they  are  iioav  alleged  to  im- 
pugn. I  fully  grant  that  the  force  of  this  conclu- 
sion depends  upon  the  number  of  the  difficulties 
alleged,  because  evidences  very  small  in  themselves 
may  yet  become  strong  by  accumulation,  and  by 
the  consilience  of  proof,  as  it  is  called,  may  con- 
ceivably amount  even  to  moral  demonstration.  To 
ascertain  what  their  number  and  force  maybe  is  now, 
therefore,  my  object.  But  it  must  be  admitted  at  the 
beginning,  that  the  presumption  established  in  favor 
of  the  truth  of  Scripture  weakens  them,  whatever 
they  may  be,  and  detracts  an  appreciable  percent- 
age from  any  value  they  might  otherwise  possess. 

The  number  of  these  objections  is  very  large, 
and,  if  numerical  preponderance  had  weight,  would 
apparently  be  very  formidable.     The  unwearied  in- 


2G'2  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

dustry  exhibited  in  searching  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  Scripture  for  the  grounds  of  adverse 
evidence,  proves  that,  if  the  veracity  of  the  Bible 
remains  unimpugned,  it  will  be  neither  from  want 
of  will  nor  want  of  ingenuity  in  its  assailants. 
They  cover  so  wide  an  area  that  it  is  impossible,  in 
such  a  work  as  this,  to  notice  or  even  to  enumerate 
them.  It  is  necessary  to  draw  some  line  between 
what  are  appropriate  to  my  immediate  subject  and 
what  are  not.  I  purpose,  therefore,  to  omit  all 
alleged  evidences  which  are  directed  to  overthrow 
the  whole  authority  of  Scripture,  and  confine  my- 
self to  those  which  have  recently  been  put  forward 
in  disproof  of  its  Divine  inspiration  and  consequent 
inerrability. 

Even  so  the  number  is  very  large,  amounting  to 
nearly  four  hundred  distinct  passages  of  more  or 
less  length.  The  number  might  receive  apparent 
increase,  if  passages  were  broken  up  into  their  in- 
dividual parts,  and  single  objections  separately  enu- 
merated. Nevertheless,  it  will  appear  that  the  very 
largeness  of  the  number  only  serves  to  attest  the 
more  absolutely  the  authority  of  Scriptures  capable 
of  passing  unscathed  through  so  strict  and  search- 
ing an  ordeal. 

Definite  rules  can  alone  guide  the  inquiry 
through  such  a  tangled  mass  of  objections.  All 
arguments,  moreover,  incapable  of  being  reduced 
to  rule,  must  lie  under  just  suspicion  of  arbitrary 
caprice.  The  rules  will  follow  necessarily  from  a 
principle  already  asserted,  and  to  which,  as  to  a 
point  settled,  I  claim  the  right  to   appeal   as  the 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  263 

groundwork  of  further  argument.  This  principle  is 
that  a  revelation  implies,  indeed  requires,  two  par- 
ties, and  therefore  two  elements,  and  that  the  two 
elements  are  to  be  maintained  everywhere,  always 
distinct,  but  never  separate.  The  part  which  God 
had  in  producing  the  Bible  must  not  be  so  pushed 
as  to  absorb  the  part  which  man  had  in  producing 
it.  The  part  which  man  had  in  producing  the  Bible 
must  not  be  so  pushed  as  to  derogate  from  the  part 
which  God  had  in  producing  it.  Consequently,  if 
the  human  element  be  admitted  as  indispensable, 
whatever  is  essential  to  the  human  element  must 
be  admitted  likewise ;  and  yet  the  admission  will 
not  take  away  any  quality  essential  to  the  Divine 
element.  The  principle  is  very  simple ;  yet  the 
great  mass  of  skeptical  objection  has  arisen  from 
denying  it,  and  from  falsely  assuming  that  whatever 
is  characteristically  human  cannot  be  at  the  same 
time  characteristically  Divine.  I  have  already  shown 
that  no  conceivable  reason  can  be  given  wh}^  the 
human  and  Divine  should  not  be  as  closely  and 
invariably  united  in  the  written  word  as,  by  the 
admission  of  all  orthodox  believers,  they  are  united 
in  the  personal  Word — in  Him  who,  bcrn  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  was  yet  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light, 
very  God  of  very  God. 

The  rules  to  be  borne  in  mind  as  a  soldier  may 
grasp  his  weapons  when  he  descends  into  the  con- 
flict, are  as  follows : 

Bule  1. — Passages  interpolated  into  the  original 
autograpJis,  or  errors  made  in  transcript  ion,  are  no 
parts  of  Scripture,  and 'furnish,  therefore,  no  argument 


264  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

against  its  truth.  The  liability  to  causes  of  error  of 
this  kind  arises  from  the  human  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  the  human  instruments  employed  to  con- 
vey the  revelation.  We  are  not  at  liberty,  however, 
to  fall  back  on  this  explanation  as  a  mere  means  of 
escape  from  a  difficulty,  unless  some  reason  can  be 
alleged  to  justify  it.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  lay- 
ing down  canons  for  guidance  in  such  a  case.  We 
are  justified  in  adopting  this  explanation  (a)  when- 
ever the  evidence  of  the  MSS.  suggested  it ;  (b) 
wherever  Scripture  itself  furnishes  the  data  for  dis- 
covering or  correcting  the  mistake ;  (c)  where  the 
nature  of  the  passage  or  the  characters  of  the 
words  render  an  error  in  transcription  easy,  and 
therefore  probable.  Where  none  of  these  reasons 
exist  we  have  no  right  to  adopt  this  mode  of 
evading  a  difficulty.  Mere  arbitrary  and  capri- 
cious exercise  of  individual  opinion  constitutes  no 
justification  for  it.  For  instance,  the  majority  of 
the  MSS.  attest  that  1  John  5  :  7  is  an  interpola- 
tion, and  the  fact  that  it  only  interrupts  the  argu- 
ment of  the  apostle  is  an  internal  evidence  to  the 
same  effect.  Again,  the  number  of  men  who  drew 
the  sword  in  Israel  and  Judah,  as  taken  in  the  cen- 
sus made  by  Joab  at  David's  command,  differs  very 
widely  in  2  Sam.  24  : 9,  and  1  Chron.  21 :  5.  We 
are  therefore  at  liberty,  on  the  authority  of  either 
statement  of  the  two,  to  suppose  an  error  of  tran- 
scription in  the  other,  if  other  explanations  fail  to 
satisfy  us.  On  the  other  hand,  a  similar  error  on 
the  part  of  the  copyist  has  been  suggested  relative 
to  the  number  of  the  Hebrew  people  at  the  Exodus ; 


ALLEGED  INACCUKACIES.  205 

and  it  has  been  supposed  that,  by  a  very  easy  and 
natural  error,  six  hundred  thousand  has  been  writ- 
ten for  sixty  thousand.  But  in  this  case,  so  far  is 
Scripture  itself  from  affording  any  authority  for  the 
alteration,  that  it  positively  forbids  it ;  for  the  cor- 
rection would  bring  this  particular  passage  into 
contradiction  with  other  passages,  such  as  Exod. 
30 :  11-16,  28  :  25  ;  Numb.  11 :  21 ;  Deut.  11 :  22  ;  26  ; 
1  Cor.  10 : 8,  etc.  We  are,  therefore,  bound  to  reject 
it.  The  reconstruction  of  the  book  of  Genesis  into 
the  two  supposed  documents,  the  Elohistic  and  the 
Jehovistic,  by  the  disciples  of  the  "higher  criti- 
cism," affords  an  instance  of  the  arbitrary,  and 
therefore  unjustifiable,  suggestion  of  interpolations 
on  the  part  of  the  transcriber.  Certain  passages 
are  found  not  to  yield  themselves  to  this  theoreti- 
cal treatment,  and  are  therefore  arbitrarily  declared 
to  be  interpolations.  Thus  Eichhorn  conjecturally 
alters  Gen.  4:25;  9:27;  17:1;  22:12;  27:28,  etc., 
solely  on  this  ground. 

The  limitation  expressed  in  this  rule  is  applica- 
ble to  some  cases  not  at  present  claiming  consider-  2  /•!**  * 
ation.  Of  the  instances  taken  into  calculation  in  , 
this  chapter,  it  is  applicable  to  four :  2  Sam.  24 : 9  ; 
1  Chron.  21 : 5  ;  Matt.  27  : 9  ;  and  1  John  5:7.  It 
may  also  be  fairly  applied  to  another  instance,,  to 
which  a  further  examination  will  be  given  hereaf- 
ter, viz.,  Acts  7  :  16. 

Rule  2.  The  employment  of  figures  of  speech  and 
of  artificial  or  conventional  forms  of  statement  consti- 
tutes no  violation  of  literal  truth.  Both  these  peculi- 
arities belong  inseparably  to  the  human  element. 

God's  Word  1 2 


266  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Figures  of  speech  are  employed  for  the  very  pur- 
pose of  conveying  the  idea  of  facts  with  a  greater 
intensity  than  would  otherwise  be  possible.  They 
must  therefore  be  resolved  into  their  meaning,  be- 
fore the  accuracy  or  inaccuracy  of  the  description 
can  be  tested.  For  instance,  when  St.  Luke  records 
that  at  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  "  there  was  darkness 
over  all  the  earth,""  he  employs  a  figure  (synec- 
doche) of  familiar  and  undisputed  use  in  all  secular 
writers,  by  which  sometimes  a  part  is  placed  for  the 
whole,  and  sometimes  a  whole  for  a  part.  In  this 
instance,  "  all  the  earth"  is  used  to  express  the  wide 
and  unbroken  prevalence  of  the  darkness.  When 
a  great  quantity  or  number  is  expressed  by  such 
phrases  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
and  the  stars  of  heaven — as  in  Gen.  13  :  16;  41 :49 ; 
Judges  7:12;  1  Sam.  13  : 5  ;  1  Kings  4 :  29  ;  2  Chron. 
1:9;  Jer.  15  :8  ;  Heb.  11 :12 — a  graphic  hyperbole 
is  emploj^ed  to  impress  upon  the  mind  the  more 
vivid  conception  of  the  idea.  Of  artificial  modes  of 
statement  we  have  a  striking  instance  in  the  gene- 
alogy of  St.  Matthew.  Of  conventional  forms,  an 
illustration  is  afforded  by  the  round  numbers  of 
Scripture,  as  in  Numb.  1  :  21-46  ;  2  Sam.  24  :  9  ; 
1  Chron.  21 : 5.  In  the  same  manner,  secular  his- 
torians familiarly  speak  of  armies  as  consisting  of 
so  many  thousand  men ;  but  nobody  accuses  them 
of  inaccuracy  because  of  the  improbability  that  an 
army  should  actually  consist  of  the  round  numbers, 
without  a  single  man  either  more  or  less. 

*  Luke  23:44.     The  word  rendered  earth,  however,  probably 
means  land,  i.  c,  the  land  of  Judea. 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  267 

Alleged  objections  falling  to  the  ground  under 
this  rule  are  based  upon  the  following  passages 
Gen.  13  :  16  ;  46  :  12  ;  Exod.  6  :  11-27  ;  Judg.  7  :  12 
Numb.  1:21,  46;   1  Sam.  24:9;   2  Chron.  21:5 
Matt,  1:1,  17;   27:6,  compared  with  Acts  1:18, 
Luke  23  :  44,  Acts  24  : 5.     But  a  list  of  similar  pas- 
sages might  be  prolonged  almost  indefinitely. 

Rule  3.  Variations  of  statement  are  not  contradic- 
tions, when  they  arise  either  from  recording  different 
parts  of  some  common  event,  or  from  assigning  a  differ- 
ent emphasis  and  importance  to  the  same  parts.  If 
the  mental  peculiarities  of  the  sacred  writers  were 
to  be  maintained,  as  I  have  shown  that  they  must 
be  maintained — or  the  human  element  would  be 
destroyed — these  variations  are  inevitable.  The 
same  common  facts  will  strike  different  minds  dif- 
ferently ;  or  rather,  different  minds  will  take  hold, 
so  to  speak,  of  different  aspects  of  them.  This  vari- 
ation is  a  matter  of  familiar  experience.  Let  the 
accounts  of  the  same  battle  by  three  or  four  differ- 
ent historians  be  compared,  or  the  reports  of  some 
current  event  as  given  in  half  a  dozen  different 
newspapers ;  an  absolute  similarity  will  be  found 
to  exist  in  no  two  of  them.  Yet  on  the  very  points 
of  variation  all  the  accounts  may  be  equally  true. 
So  it  is  with  the  scriptural  narratives.  It  has  al- 
ready been  pointed  out  that  no  history  intended  for 
human  readers  can  possibly  be  a  mere  transcript  of 
the  Divine  mind.  The  object  is  not  to  give  a  com- 
plete account  of  every  event  as  the  omniscient  mind 
of  God  sees  it,  but  to  record  such  parts  as  God  has 
seen  to  be  necessary  for  human  instruction.     It  has 


268  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

pleased  God  that  the  evangelical  writers,  in  record- 
ing the  same  event,  should  record  different  parts  of 
it ;  and  in  this  very  variation  we  find  the  evidence 
for  the  independent  truthfulness  of  the  narrative. 
We  must  apply  to  the  sacred  writings  the  standard 
applied  to  other  writings.  If  variations  of  narra- 
tive were  contradictions,  secular  history  would  be  a 
mass  of  inexplicable  confusion.  It  is  admitted  that 
variations  may  exist  in  writings  purely  human  with- 
out any  diminution  of  truth ;  and  the  same  princi- 
ple must  be  admitted  with  the  sacred  writings,  inas- 
much as  they  are  the  production  of  human  authors, 
none  the  less  for  being  inspired  authors,  and  must 
therefore  be  expected  to  present  human  peculiari- 
ties. 

Under  this  rule  fall,  as  might  be  expected,  the 
great  mass  of  skeptical  objections  against  the  truth- 
fulness of  Scripture.  An  illustrative  instance  or  two 
must  be  specified.  Thus,  the  accounts  of  the  infancy 
of  our  Lord  given  by  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke  have 
been  represented  as  irreconcilably  contradictory  to 
each  other ;  and  the  reasons  alleged  are  the  follow- 
ing :  (a)  Matthew  simply  records  the  birth  of  Christ 
at  Bethlehem,  and  does  not  give  the  explanatory 
circumstances  supplied  by  St.  Luke,  (b)  St.  Luke 
does  not  record  the  adoration  of  the  Magi  or  the 
flight  into  Egypt,  narrated  by  Matthew ;  but,  after 
recording  the  presentation  of  the  infant  Jesus  in 
the  temple,  fixes  the  next  scene  of  his  narrative  at 
Nazareth.  I  believe  that  to  most  minds  the  mode 
in  which  the  two  accounts  fit  into  one  consecutive 
story  will  appear  a  signal  instance  of  harmonious 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  269 

truth,  instead  of  an  illustration  of  irreconcilable 
contradiction. 

Another  instance  is  alleged  in  the  cure  of  the 
centurion's  servant,  recorded  in  Matt.  8  : 5-13,  Luke 
7  : 1-10.  Here  the  point  of  alleged  discrepancy  is, 
that  St.  Matthew  states,  "There  came  unto  him 
a  centurion,"  while  Luke  states,  "He  sent  unto 
him  [Jesus]  the  elders  of  the  Jews ;"  again,  "  The 
centurion  sent  friends  unto  him."  The  two  state- 
ments are  perfectly  consistent,  and  may  both  be 
true.  It  is  but  a  touch  of  nature  that  the  centu- 
rion, in  deep  anxiety  about  his  servant,  should  in 
his  humility  send  friends,  and  yet,  in  his  earnest- 
ness, himself  follow,  and  repeat  in  person  the  mes- 
sage previously  entrusted  to  others. 

Where  instances  are  so  numerous,  a  detailed 
explanation  of  individual  cases  is  impossible.  I  can 
only  indicate  the  source  of  the  difficulty,  and  the 
key  by  which  it  is  to  be  removed.  Passages  in  the 
Old  Testament  alleged  to  be  discrepant,  but  which 
are  reconcileable  under  this  rule,  are  as  follows  : 

Gen.  1 :  24-28,  compared  with  Gen.  2  :  7-23  ; 

Gen.  6  :  19  with  7:2; 

Gen.  28  :  10-19  with  Gen.  35  :6-9  ; 

Exod.  12  :  10  with  Acts  7:6; 

Exod.  1G  :  35  with  Josh.  5  :  10-12  ; 

Exod.  20  : 1-11  with  Dent.  5  :  4-22  ; 

Exod.  3  : 1-20  with  Exod.  4  :  10-31,  5  : 1-23,  6  : 2-30,  7:1-7; 

Exodus   16  : 1-35  with  Numbers  9  : 1,  2,  10  :  11-33,  11  : 1-35, 

33 : 10-17  ; 
Lev.  17  : 1-9  with  Dent.  12  :  13-22  ; 
Numb.  21  :  33-35  with  Dent.  3:11; 
Numb.  1  : 1-49  with  Numb.  2  :  32,  33,  3  :  10-47 ; 
Numb.  4  : 1-48  with  Numb.  8  :  23-26  ; 


270  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Numb.  18  :  8-19  with  Dent.  12  :  5-9,  15  :  19-22,  18  : 1-5,    and 

Lev.  27  :  26,  27  ; 
Numb.  18  :  20-2G  with  Deut.  14  :  22-29,  and  Neh.  10  :  35-38  ; 
Deut.  3:13,  14  with  Judges  10  : 1-4. 

Passages  of  the  same  character  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament are  as  follows : 

Matt.  1  : 1-17  with  Luke  3  :  23-38  ; 
Matt.  1  :  18  with  Luke  1  :  26  ; 
Matt  2  : 1,  5-23  with  Luke  2  :  4-42  ; 

Matt.  3  : 1  with  Mark  1  : 1,  Luke  3  :  2-22,  and  John  1  :  6-15  ; 
Matt.  4  :  18-22  with  Mark  1  :  16-20,  Luke  6, 1-11,  John  1 :  28-44  ; 
Matt.  4  :  25  with  Luke  6  :  12-20  ; 

Matt.  6  : 9-15  with  Mark  11  :  24-26,  and  Luke  11:1-4; 
Matt.  6  :  19-21  with  Luke  12  :  33,  34  ; 
s     Matt.  6 :  22,  23  with  Luke  11  :  32-36  ; 
Matt,  6  :  24  with  Luke  16  :  11-14  ; 
Matt.  6  :  25-34  with  Luke  12  :  21-35  ; 
Matt.  7  : 1-5  with  Luke  6  :  37-42  ; 
Matt.  7  :  7-11  with  Luke  11 : 5-13  ; 
Matt.  7:12  with  Luke  6  :  30-32  ; 
Matt.  7  :  13,  14  with  Luke  13  :  22-25  ; 
Matt.  7  :  15  with  Luke  6  :  43  ; 

Matt.  7  :  12-23,  8  :  10-13,  and  19  :  30,  with  Luke  13  :  22-30  ; 
Matt.  8  :  5-13  with  Luke  7  : 1-10  ; 
Matt.  11  :  10-14  with  Luke  16  :  14-18  ; 
Matt.  14  :  3-11  with  Mark  6  :  17-28  ; 

Matt.  20  :  29-34  with  Mark  10  :  46-52,  and  Luke  18  :  35-43,  19  : 1 ; 
~    Matt.  19  :  6-19  with  Mark  10  :  7-19,  and  Luke  18  :  18-20  ; 
Matt.  22  :34-42  with  Mark  11 :  28-35  ; 
Matt.  21  :  11-18  with  Mark  11  :  11-15,  and  Luke  19  :45  ; 
Matt.  21  :  19  with  Mark  11  :2; 
Matt.   26:33-75  with  Mark  14:29-72,  Luke  22:31-62,  John 

13:36-38,  and  18: 16-27; 
<    Matt.    26:17-20  with  Mark   14:12-17,   Luke  22:7-15,  John 

13:1-30,  and  18:28,29; 
Matt.  27  :  45.  46  with  Mark  15  :  24-34,  Luk  23  :  44-46,  and  John 

19  :  13-15  ; 
Matt.  27  :  54  with  Mark  15  :  39,  Luke  23  :  47  ; 
Matt.  26  :  30-32,  and  28  : 1-20,  with  Mark  14  :  26-28,  16  : 1-20, 

Luke  24  : 1-53,  Acts  1  :  3-9,  John  20  : 1-28,  and  21  : 1-22  ; 


ALLEGED  INACCUBACIES.  271 

Matt.  18  :  6-15  with  Luke  15  : 1-10  ; 
Matt.  22  : 1-14  with  Luke  14  :  15-24  ; 
Matt.  25  :  14-30  with  Luke  19  :  11-29  ; 
Matt.  24  : 3-3G  with  Mark  13  :  4-32,  Luke  21  :  33  ; 
£  $       Acts  19  :  3-17  with  Acts  22  : 6-15,  and  26  :  12-19. 

Eule  4.  Omissions  of  parts  of  a  series  of  facts,  or 
of  particulars  making  up  facts,  are  entirely  consistent 
with  the  truth  of  the  narrative  in  which  they  occur. 
The  reasons  for  this  rule  are  similar  to  those  alleged 
for  the  rule  preceding,  and  will  not  require,  there- 
fore, to  be  repeated.  It  will  suffice  to  repeat  part 
of  a  quotation  from  an  impartial  source  already 
made  in  a  previous  chapter  (chap.  12)  :  "  Since  the 
facts  out  of  which  we  must  construct  our  histories 
in  idea  are  but  a  small  proportion,  a  mere  remain- 
ing shred,  of  that  enormous  intertwined  infinity  of 
facts  which  actually  went  into  the  histories  while 
the  web  was  being  woven,  are  there  any  kinds  or 
orders  of  facts  which  more  than  others  it  is  desira- 
ble, for  the  purposes  of  history,  to  secure  and  keep 
hold  of?"  The  relative  importance  of  facts,  it  must 
also  be  remembered,  is  strictly  and  solely  related 
to  the  objects  proposed  by  the  writer.  A  variety 
of  points  of  view  and  of  modes  of  viewing  things 
are  inseparable  from  the  human  element.  A  vary- 
ing proportion  given  to  facts,  even  up  to  their  omis- 
sion altogether,  is  therefore  inseparable  from  the 
human  element  likewise,  since  the  effect  must  be 
coextensive  with  the  cause.  Variations  of  narra- 
tive, arising  from  the  omission  of  some  facts  out 
of  a  series,  might  consistently  have  fallen  under 
the  previous  rule ;  but  as  they  constitute  a  varia- 
tion of  one  specific  kind,  I  have  thought  it  best, 


272  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

for  the  sake  of  clearness,  to  classify  them  by  them- 
selves. 

An  omission  of  this  kind  occurs  in  Matt.  14:5, 
compared  with  Mark  6:18.  For  Mark  records  a 
foregone  purpose  on  the  part  of  Herodias  to  kill 
John  the  Baptist ;  but  Matthew  records  no  such 
design.  Again,  John  records  a  visit  of  Jesus  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  feast  of  the  dedication,  John  10 :22, 
in  regard  to  which  the  other  three  evangelists  are 
silent.  St.  John  describes  the  raising  of  Lazarus 
from  the  dead,  John  11 : 7-17 ;  but  no  account  of 
such  a  miracle  is  given  by  Matthew,  Mark,  and 
Luke. 

Or  to  take  instances  of  a  more  detailed  kind  : 
Matthew  records  the  curing  the  two  blind  men 
at  Jericho,  Matt.  20 :  29,  while  Mark  and  Luke 
(Mark  10  :  46;  Luke  18  :  35)  record  the  curing  only 
of  one.  St.  Matthew  narrates  the  words  of  our 
Lord  to  Peter  to  be,  "This  night,  before  the  cock 
crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice,"  Matt.  26  :  34, 
without  specifying  any  definite  number  of  times 
when  the  cock  should  crow,  Matt.  26:75;  whereas 
St.  Mark  specifies  that  the  cock  should  crow  twice, 
Mark  14 :  72.  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark,  in  the 
account  of  our  Lord's  crucifixion,  record  that  the 
thieves  who  were  crucified  with  him  reviled  him. 
Matt.  27  :  44  ;  Mark  15  :  32.  But  they  make  no 
mention  of  the  further  circumstance  narrated  by  St. 
Luke,  of  the  repentance  and  confession  of  one  of 
the  two.     Luke  23  :  42. 

Other  instances  of  omitted  facts  alleged  to  con- 
stitute cases  of  contradiction  are  as  follows : 


ALLEGED  INACCUEACIES.  273 

Matt.  19  :  1,  20  :  17,  21  : 1-23,  24  : 1-3,  26  : 1-12,  compared  with 
Mark  9  :  33,  10  : 1-46,  11  : 1-27,  12  :  35,  13  : 1,  14  : 1-9,  Luke 
9:51-53,  10:38,  39,  17:11,  12,  18:35,  19:1-47,  20:1, 
22  : 1-7,  John  10  :  22-39,  11  : 7-53,  12  : 1-19  ; 

Matt.  23  :  8-22  with  Luke  11  :  37-54  ; 

Matt.  27  :  41-45  with  Mark  14  :  32-42  ; 

Matt.  22  : 1-14  with  Luke  14  :  15-24,  22  :  40-46  ; 

Matt.  25  :  14-30  with  Luke  19  :  11-29. 

The  same  objection  is  brought  against  the  fol- 
lowing passages  in  the  book  of  Genesis : 

Gen.  4  : 1-26  compared  with  Gen.  5  : 1-6  ; 
Gen.  26  :  34,  35,  with  Gen.  28  :  6-9,  and  36  : 1-6. 

Many  other  objections  have  been  taken  similar 
in  kind,  which  yet  do  not  fall  within  the  class  here 
dealt  with. 

Rule  5.  Differences  of  style  in  the  composition,  of 
personal  character  in  the  mode  of  thinking,  and  of  stand- 
point in  looking  at  common  truths,  are  neither  inconsis- 
tent with  truth,  nor  with  the  action  of  a  Divine  inspi- 
ration. These  differences  are  inseparable  from  the 
free  use  of  human  messengers  as  the  instrument  of 
communicating  truth  to  mankind.  The  only  con- 
ceivable mode  of  avoiding  them  would  be  for  God 
in  employing  human  instruments,  to  merge  their 
separate  peculiarities,  mental,  moral,  local,  circum- 
stantial, in  one  common  and  indistinguishable  type. 
Such  a  mode  of  acting  would  have  been  contrary  to 
all  the  ordinary  principles  of  God's  moral  govern- 
ment, and  would  have  destroyed  the  foothold  of  the 
revelation  on  the  historical  realities  of  the  world. 
But  if  God  did  not  see  fit  to  do  this,  then  the  per- 
sonal peculiarities  of  the  sacred  writers  must  have 
been  retained.  God  in  selecting  one  man  rather 
than  another  to  be  his  messenger  must  have  had 

12* 


274  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

regard  to  the  special  gifts,  character,  position, 
period,  and  preparatory  education  of  the  messen- 
ger. It  has  been  shown  in  chapter  9  that  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  men  were  a  necessary  condition  of 
the  human  element  in  Scripture.  But  these  pecu- 
liarities have  necessarily  left  their  stamp  on  their 
productions.  The  style  is  different  in  different  men, 
or  even  with  the  same  man  under  different  circum- 
stances and  on  different  topics.  Their  modes  of 
thinking  affect  their  modes  of  speaking.  Each  man 
regards  the  common  subject  from  the  standpoint  of 
his  own  particular  theme,  particular  purpose,  or 
particular  mode  of  thought.  If,  therefore,  the  exist- 
ence of  a  human  element  in  Scripture  is  so  essential 
to  the  very  idea  of  a  revelation  as  to  constitute  no 
argument  against  its  Divine  inspiration,  all  the 
peculiarities  arising  from  the  human  element  must 
be  consistent  with  it  likewise. 

Forgetfulness  of  this  simple  truth  has  been  the 
originating  source  of  many  adverse  criticisms  upon 
Scripture.  The  discriminations  of  the  difference  in 
style  has  been  as  accurate  as  the  conclusion  found- 
ed upon  it  is  unjustifiable  and  absurd.  Thus  the 
Mosaic  authority  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  has 
been  called  into  question  because  the  earnest  and 
elevated  style  of  the  book  stands  in  such  strong 
contrast  with  the  formal  language  of  Leviticus.  In 
the  same  way  it  has  been  argued  that  the  teaching 
of  the  Pauline  epistles  and  the  teaching  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch cannot  have  proceeded  from  the  inspiration 
of  one  and  the  same  God,  because  one  starts  from 
the  point  of  view  supplied  by  a  completed  salvation, 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  275 

the  other  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  preparatory 
and  imperfect  dispensation.  One  instance  of  the 
same  difficulty  in  detail  is  afforded  by  the  well- 
known  passages  of  Komans  4:1-5,  where  the  apos- 
tle is  arguing  against  the  hope  of  salvation  by  the 
deeds  of  the  law ;  and  James  2 :  14-26,  where  the 
apostle  speaks  against  the  reality  of  faith  that  is 
not  evidenced  by  its  effects  on  the  life  and  conduct. 
Thus  the  standpoint  of  a  Divine  prescience  in 
the  speaker  is  wholly  overlooked  in  the  objections 
brought  against  such  passages  as  Exod.  36  :  31,  Gen. 
12  :  6,  Numb.  15  :  32-36,  Deut.  3  :  12,  Lev.  18  :  24-28. 
The  peculiar  position  of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  the 
necessity  of  pressing,  over  and  over  again,  upon  a 
half-civilized  people  respect  towards  others,  are  for- 
gotten in  the  objection  raised  against  the  reiterated 
injunctions  of  Exod.  22 :  21 ;  23  : 9, 17-19 ;  34  :  23-26. 
The  relation  in  which  the  times  of  the  gospel  are 
declared  to  stand  towards  the  second  coming  of 
Christ,  as  being  themselves  the  sole  intervening- 
period  before  the  accomplishment  of  that  great 
event,  is  overlooked  in  the  skeptical  comment  made 
in  reference  to  the  second  coming  in  the  epistles : 
e.  g., 

.  Eom.  13  :  11,  12  ;  1  Cor.  1  :  7,  8,  7  :  19-31,  11  :  2G,  15  :  51,  52 ; 
Phil.  1  :  6-10,  3  :  20,  21,  4:5;  Col.  3  :  4  ;  1  Tliess.  1  :  9,  10, 
2  :  19,  3  :  13,  4  :  13-18,  5  : 1-23  ;  2  Thess.  2  : 1-12  ;  1  Tim. 
6  :  13-15  ;  2  Tim.  4:1-8;  Titus  2  :  12.  13  ;  Heb.  9  :  28, 
10  :  21-37 ;  James  5:3-9;  1  Peter  1  : 4-20,  4:4-7,  5:1-4; 
2  Peter  3  :  3-12  ;  1  John  2  :  17-28,  3  : 2,  4  :  3  ;  llev.  1  :  3-7, 
2  :  25,  22  :  10-2G. 

The  nature  of  predictive  prophecy  and  the  char- 
acteristic difference  distinguishing  the  prediction  of 


276  GOD?S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  future  from  the  narration  of  the  past  are  like- 
wise overlooked  in  commenting  upon  the  variations 
perceptible  in  such  passages  as  Matt.  24 : 3-36, 
Mark  13  :  4-32,  and  Luke  21 :  20-33. 

The  "wantonness  of  such  conjectural  criticism  is 
illustrated  by  another  class  of  instances.  In  some 
cases  it  has  been  remarked  that  skeptical  objection 
is  based  on  the  diversity  of  style.  But  a  further 
class  of  objection  is  based  on  the  similarity  of  style. 
Doubt  has  been  attempted  to  be  thrown  upon  the 
accuracy  of  St.  John's  gospel,  from  the  similarity 
of  expression  traced  between  it  and  some  passages 
in  the  first  epistle  of  the  same  apostle.  The  plea  is 
that  the  peculiar  style  of  expression  belonging  to 
the  apostle  St.  John  has  colored  the  language  im- 
puted, and  as  it  is  hinted,  falsely  imputed  to  our 
blessed  Master.  The  argument  is  urged  in  charac- 
teristic forgetfulness  that  the  reverse  alternative  is 
at  least  equally  probable,  in  that  the  language  of 
our  Lord  may  naturally  have  colored  the  mode  of 
thinking  and  speaking  belonging  to  the  apostle 
whom  Jesus  loved,  and  who,"  in  the  familiarity  of 
intimate  friendship,  lay  upon  his  breast.  The  pas- 
sages adduced  are  as  follows  : 

John  1  :  1-14,  21  :  24,  compared  with  1  John  1  : 1,  2 ; 

John  1:5,  13  :  84,  with  1  John  1 :  5,  2  :  8  ; 

.John  1 :  12.  15  :  19,  with  1  John  3:1; 

John  1  :  18,  with  1  John  4  :  12  ; 

John  3:3,  with  1  John  3:9; 

John  3  :  1G,  with  1  John  4:9; 

John  3  :  21.  with  1  John  1  :  G  ; 

John  3  :  31,  8  :  23.  15  :  19.  with  1  John  4:5; 

John  3  :  3G,  with  1  John  5  :  12  ; 

John  5  :  23,  15  :  23,  with  1  John  2  :  23  ; 


ALLEGED  INACCUKACIES.  277 

John  5  :  24,  with  1  John  3  :  14  ; 
John  5  :  36,  37,  with  1  John  5:9; 
John  8  :  12,  12 :  35,  with  1  John  1:7; 
John  8  :  32,  with  1  John  2  :  24  ; 
John  8  :  44,  with  1  John  3:8; 
John  8  :  46,  with  1  John  3:5; 
John  8  :  47,  with  1  John  4:6; 
John  9  :  31,  with  1  John  3:2; 
John  11  :  51,  52,  with  1  John  2:2; 
John  12  :  35,  with  1  John  2  :  11 ; 
John  13  :  15,  with  1  John  2:6; 
John  14  :  13,  with  1  John  5  :  14  ; 
John  14  :  15,  with  1  John  5:3; 
John  14  :  16,  17.  with  1  John  2:1; 
John  14  :  21,  with  1  John  2:5; 
John  14  :  26,  with  1  John  2  :  20-27 ; 
John  15  :  10,  with  1  John  2:3; 
John  15  :  11,  16  :  24,  with  1  John  1:4; 
John  15  :  13,  with  1  John  3  :  16  ; 
John  15  :  18.  with  1  John  3  :  13  ; 
John  16  :  33,  with  1  John  5:4; 
John  20  :  31,  with  1  John  5  :  13. 

Rule  6.  Separate  transactions  are  not  to  he  vI<h~ 
tljied  with  each  other  because  of  a  parallelism  between 
some  circumstances  of  an  event,  or  some  portions  of  a 
discourse.  It  is  a  •true  and  profound  remark,  that 
human  history  has  a  tendency  to  repeat  itself; 
under  analogous  circumstances  men  are  likely  to 
adopt  an  analogous  course  of  action.  A  partial 
similarity  is  therefore  no  proof  of  identity.  This 
caution  is  practically  needed  in  regard  to  the  trans- 
actions of  our  Lord's  life  and  his  recorded  discour- 
ses. The  resources  of  his  own  wisdom,  knowledge, 
and  power,  were  indeed  infinite ;  but  the  sphere  of 
his  ministry  was  narrow,  being  confined  to  the 
Jews.     The   circumstances   were   rigidly   peculiar. 


278  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

The  general  characteristics  of  the  persons  with 
whom  he  came  into  contact  were,  from  the  strong 
and  peculiar  type  of  the  Jewish  character  and  the 
religious  condition  of  the  Jewish  church  of  his  day, 
marked  by  a  strongly  defined  similarity.  In  his 
teaching  under  such  circumstances  there  could  be 
but  little  comparative  variety.  The  same  truths, 
the  same  warnings,  the  same  expostulations,  the 
same  promises,  must  have  recurred  over  and  over 
again  ;  for  why  should  a  perfectly  wise  teacher  vary 
the  form  of  his  words,  when  the  circumstances  to 
which  they  were  addressed  were  not  varied?  A 
certain  monotone  and  repetition  was  inevitable. 
But  if  this  existed  in  our  Lord's  teaching,  it  must 
equally  be  expected  to  exist  in  the  records  of  his 
teaching.  To  argue  from  a  similarity  of  circum- 
stances or  of  truth  for  the  absolute  identity  of  two 
transactions  or  two  discourses,  is  to  put  a  forced 
and  unnatural  construction  upon  the  inspired  rec- 
ord. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  enter  elaborately  in 
each  case  upon  the  consideration  of  these  asserted 
cases  of  identity.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  assert  that 
the  conclusion  is,  in  such  cases,  precarious  in  the 
extreme,  to  say  the  very  best  of  it ;  and  that  any 
further  argument,  based  on  this  precarious  suppo- 
sition, cannot  have  higher  certainty  than  belongs  to 
its  foundation,  and  can  be  esteemed  little  better 
than  a  superstructure  of  shadow  built  upon  a  foun- 
dation of  sand. 

Yet  this  argument  has  been  freely  used.  It  has 
been  deemed  necessary  to  establish  the  existence  of 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  279 

contradictions  in  the  scriptural  narrative.  What 
more  easy  than  to  assume  that  two  varying  accounts 
refer  to  one  and  the  same  transaction,  and  therefore 
must  be  contradictory  to  each  other  ?  Of  the  ex- 
treme uncertainty  of  such  identification  at  the  best 
we  have  an  illustration  in  what  is  the  strongest  of 
all  the  alleged  cases,  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  as 
recorded  in  Matt.  5  to  8,  and  the  discourse  recorded 
by  St.  Luke  in  6:20-49.  A  quotation  from  a  pos- 
thumous publication  by  the  Rev.  Josiah  Forshall, 
the  merit  of  which  suggests  how  great  a  loss  the 
church  of  Christ  has  suffered  by  his  removal,  will 
serve  to  shoAV  the  bearing  of  the  question.  After 
pointing  out  the  antecedent  probability  that  no 
indefinite  variation  would  be  found  in  our  Lord's 
teaching,  Mr.  Forshall  continues  : 

"  Do  the  gospel  narratives  enable  us  to  say 
positively  whether  our  Lord  did  or  did  not  repeat 
his  lessons  in  the  same  manner  and  in  like  words  ? 
Our  Lord  taught  his  disciples  to  pray  on  two  dif- 
ferent occasions  widely  apart :  did  he  think  fit  to 
command  the  use  of  the  same  or  of  different  forms? 
They  are  nearly  the  same.  Our  Lord  taught, 
on  three  different  occasions,  the  true  doctrine  of 
marriage  and  the  unlawfulness  of  divorce  :  did  he 
do  it  in  different  or  in  the  same  terms?  Nearly 
in  the  same.  Our  Lord  twice  wept  over  Jerusa- 
lem with  touching  lamentations :  were  they  ex- 
pressed in  different  or  in  the  same  words?  They 
were  in  the  same.  Our  Lord,  when  he  was  ap- 
proaching Jerusalem,  on  his  last  journey  from  Gali- 
lee, delivered  a  parable,  Luke  19 :  12.    Within  a  few 


280  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

days,  when  lie  quitted  Jerusalem,  he  again  delivered 
a  parable,  Matt.  25 :  14.  How  far  do  these  parables 
differ.  They  agree  literally  in  the  greater  part  of 
each." 

He  then  illustrates  the  same  fact  from  the  ser- 
mon on  the  mount  itself,  in  passages  all  of  which 
have  perversely  been  made  the  subject  of  skeptical 
objections.  "We  conclude  this  topic  by  asking, 
"  Why,  then,  should  he  not  have  repeated  a  part  of 
what  he  had  said  in  the  sermon  upon  the  mount  on 
another  occasion  recorded  by  St.  Luke  ?"  He  then 
proceeds  to  show  that,  so  far  are  the  two  discourses 
from  being  identical,  that  of  the  whole  matter  con- 
tained in  the  two  accounts,  less  than  one  fifth  is  com- 
mon, and  more  than  four  fifths  peculiar,  to  one  or  the 
other.  But  if  this  strongest  of  all  the  instances  be 
weak,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  rest,  or  what 
weight  be  placed  upon  arguments  which  contradict 
in  some  cases  the  express  declarations  of  the  nar- 
rative itself? 

Yet  the  following  passages  have  been  called  into 
question,  solely  on  the  authority  of  this  speculative 
identity : 

Gen.  12  :  10,  20  : 1-18,  21:  22-31,  2G:6-11. 17-33  ;  Matt.  20  :  20- 
34  ;  Mark  10  :  4G-52  ;  Luke  18  :  35-43  ;  Matt,  18  :  15  ;  Mark 
9  :  33-37  :  Luke  9  :  46-48  ;  Matt.  20:20.  29  ;  Mark  10  :  35-10  ; 
Luke  22  :  21-30  ;  Matt.  21  :  15.  1G  ;  Luke  19  :  38-40  ;  Matt 
21  :  11  ;  John  2:13;  Matt.  23  : 1-39,  24 :  L;  Luke  11  :  37  5  1  : 
Matt.  4  :  18-22  with  John  1 :  28-44. 

Rule  7. — .No  private  estimates  of  probability  or 
improbability,  cither  as  to/acts  or  doctrines,  can  be  of 
f<>ree  to  neutralize  the  testimony  of  a  positive  record. 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  281 

As  far  as  this  proposition  relates  to  historical  facts 
the  common  proverb  that  "fact  is  stranger  than  fic- 
tion" expresses  the  ordinary  experience  and  convic- 
tions of  mankind.  The  course  of  human  events  is 
not  represented  by  the  even  current  of  some  smooth 
river,  flowing  upon  its  uninterrupted  course  through 
smiling  plains  into  the  sea.  But  it  is  represented 
by  a  river  interrupted  by  rocks,  and  broken  into 
rapids  and  cataracts.  Sudden  changes,  startling 
vicissitudes,  and  strange  calamities,  form  the  com- 
mon features  of  history.  Those  who  have  lived  but 
for  a  few  years  can  recall  repeated  instances  of 
events  which  excited  common  wonder  and  astonish- 
ment, from  having  taken  place  in  a  manner  previ- 
ously deemed  to  be  impossible.  Who  could  have 
foreseen  the  past  history  of  the  world — who  can 
predict  its  future  history?  But  if  we  are  wholly 
incapable  of  judging  from  antecedent  considerations 
of  the  probability  and  improbability  of  events,  still 
less  are  we  capable  of  anticipating  the  fluctuating 
course  of  human  action;  still  less  of  judging  of 
Divine  action.  Doctrines,  still  more  than  facts, 
because  they  have  their  origin  in  the  mind  of  God, 
lie  wholly  beyond  and  above  the  reach  of  the  human 
mind.  All  objections,  therefore,  founded  on  per- 
sonal opinion  on  the  part  of  the  critic,  and  which 
find  expression  in  such  phrases  as  "I  do  not  think 
it  probable,"  "It  does  not  appear  to  me  likely,"  are 
devoid  of  all  argumentative  force,  and,  as  evidences, 
are  literally  valueless. 

Yet   no    inconsiderable    number   of   objections 
against  the  veracity  of  Scripture   have   no  other 


282  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

foundation  than  this,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  follow- 
ing instances  : 

Gen.  12  :  G,  13  :  7,  18,  14  :  14,  17  :  17,  18  :  11,  19,  23  :  2,  3G  :  31  ; 

Exod.  30  :  11-16,  35  :  27,  38  :  25-28,  with  Numb.  1  :  1-46  ; 
Exod.  G  :  21. 22, 11 :  3. 12  : 3, 37,  13  :  18  ;  Lev.  8  :  3. 13  :  43  ;  Numb. 

2,  3  :  16.  26.  with  26  :  43  ;  9  : 1-13, 10  :  11-14, 11: 1-35, 12  :  3-16, 

13:3-26,  14:13,  15,  25-34,  15:22,  18:20-26,  20:1-29,  21:4- 

13  :  16,  26  :  62,  32  :  1,  33  :  15-39,  34  :  5-12  ;  Deut.  1  :  2-46, . 

2  : 1-14.  3:43,  5:1,  10  :  6,  7,  12  :  2-18,  compared  with  Josh. 

18  : 1,  24  : 1-26  ;  Judges  2  :  4,  5  ;  Deut.  17  :  14-20,  28  :  36,  37  ; 

Josh  8  :  34,  35,  19  :  47  ;  Judges  8  :  22,  23,  18  :  27,  28  ;  1  Sam. 

8  :  4-22,  10  :  24,  25. 

Under  this  rule  falls  another  class  of  objections, 
where  the  judgment  of  the  critic  is  set  up  as  the 
standard  of  conclusive  argument,  or  the  test  of  con- 
clusive evidence.  The  very  form  of  these  objections 
involves  the  denial  of  that  Divine  inspiration,  and 
consequent  authority  of  Scripture,  which  are  the 
questions  for  proof  or  disproof.  The  objection  qui- 
etly ignores  that  Divine  element  whence  Scripture 
derives  its  authority  as  the  rule  of  faith.  What  is 
taught  in  the  inspired  Word  as  an  express  revela- 
tion from  God  is  brought  down  to  the  measurement 
of  human  opinion,  and  accepted  or  rejected  on  the 
sole  verdict  of  the  critic.  As  example  is  afforded 
by  the  quotations  made  by  St.  Paul  in  Romans 
3:9-19;  from  Psalms  14:1-7,  5:1-12,  140:1-13, 
10  : 1-12,  59  :  12,  109  :  17,  18.  The  object  of  the 
critic  is  to  show  that  the  reasoning  of  the  apostle 
is  illogical  and  inconclusive.  He  first  determines 
in  his  own  judgment  that  the  language  of  the 
psalmist  could  not  bear  that  universal  application 
which  the  inspired  commentator  gives  to  the  in- 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  283 

spired  declaration.  Having  thus  settled  beforehand 
that  St.  Paul  must  be  wrong,  his  course  is  easy. 
Let  him  speak  in  his  own  words:  "It  is  quite  evi- 
dent that  the  whole  of  a  nation,  and  still  more  so 
the  whole  of  mankind,  could  not  justly  be  described 
by  all  the  epithets  which  have  been  quoted  by  St. 
Paul  in  the  passage  under  consideration.  But  if 
this  be  so,  if  the  writers  of  these  Psalms,  when  they 
denounced  the  wicked  in  the  language  to  which  the 
apostle  has  appealed,  had  in  view  only  a  limited 
class  of  persons,  the  enemies,  oppressors,  and  per- 
secutors of  the  'righteous,'  or  of  the  'people'  of  God, 
it  results  that  these  texts  cannot  be  received  as  evi- 
dence of  what  St.  Paul  adduces  them  to  demon- 
strate, viz.,  the  universal  depravity  and  guilt  of  the 
entire  Jewish  nation,  or  even  of  the  whole  human 
race." 

This  mode  of  quietly  begging  the  question,  and 
then  using  this  foregone  conclusion  as  an  evidence, 
has  been  freely  applied  to  the  writings  of  St.  Paul. 
The  following  passages  have  been  specially  called 
into  question,  and  are  vindicated  by  the  rule  now 
under  consideration : 

Rom.  3  : 9-19,  4:1-5;  Gal.  3  : 1-10,  8-15,  29,  4  :  21-31,  5:1-9; 
Heb.  1 : 1-13,  2  : 5,  3  : 7-19  ;  4  : 1-11,  10  :  14-18,  36-39,  11 :  8- 
16  ;  1  Cor.  11  :  5-11,  15  :  12-20  ;  also  to  1  Pet.  1  :  23-25,  and 
James  2  :  14-26. 

I  have  now  enumerated  three  hundred  and 
twenty-six  passages  of  Scripture  which  have  been 
called  into  question.  I  have  taken  them  without 
any  selection  from  recent  works  directed  against 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  have  knowingly 


284  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

omitted  none.  They  constitute  the  entire  weapons 
of  the  skeptical  armory;  and  if  they  fail,  there  are 
none  others.  Yet  the  seven  simple  rules  enumera- 
ted above  overthrow  their  very  foundation.  Kule  1 
is  fatal  to  4  of  them,  rule  2  to  12,  rule,  3  to  144^mle 
4  to  47,  rule  5  to  116,  rule  6  to  23,  rule  7  to  80.  The 
whole  area  of  skeptical  objection  is  now  swept,  and 
what  cases  remain  must  be  solved  by  the  exercise 
of  faith,  and  by  the  reasonable  presumption  estab- 
lished in  the  last  chapter,  that  difficulties  arise  from 
erroneous  and  defective  information,  and  would  dis- 
appear in  these  cases  as  in  others,  could  the  infor- 
mation be  corrected  or  supplied.  Of  the  present  list 
none  remain.  The  whole  army  of  difficulties  arise 
from  misapprehensions  relative  to  the  Divine  and 
human  elements.  They  are  consequently  removed, 
when  we  clearly  see  that  all  the  characteristics  of  a 
human  composition  may  exist  in  the  Scripture  to 
the  full,  and  yet  not  detract  in  the  least  from  its 
plenary  inspiration  and  authority. 

It  will  be  impossible,  I  think,  to  examine  the 
instances  enumerated  without  perceiving  another 
fact.  The  difficulties  suggested  are  so  subtle  that 
in  many  cases  it  requires  an  effort  to  understand 
them.  Passages  alleged  to  be  contradictory  may 
be  put  side  by  side  without  an  ordinary  reader 
being  conscious  even  of  discrepancy  between  them, 
much  less  of  contradiction.  It  needs  a  commentary 
to  elucidate  the  nature  of  the  supposed  difficulty, 
so  trivial  is  it  for  the  most  part  in  itself,  and  so 
dependent  for  its  force  upon  suppositions  without 
proof,  and  suspicions  without  evidence.     Such  ob- 


ALLEGED  INACCUEACIES.  285 

jections  stand  in  singular  contrast  to  the  broad 
facts,  the  strong,  clear  lines  of  proof,  and  the  inde- 
pendent sources  of  evidence  by  which  the  minute 
accuracy  of  the  scriptural  books  is  signally  illus- 
trated. 

There  is,  however,  one  solitary  instance  where  a 
contradiction  does  stand  on  the  face  of  the  narra- 
tive, and  to  this  case  our  attention  must  briefly  be 
directed.  I  allude  to  Acts  7 :  14-16.  Supposing 
this  instance  to  lie  wholly  beyond  explanation,  we 
should  fall  back  on  the  belief  that  some  ignorance 
or  misconception  of  our  own  was  really  the  cause 
of  the  difficulty.  But  the  solution  is  to  be  found 
in  the  very  simplicity  and  absoluteness  of  the  con- 
tradiction involved,  and  the  palpable  manner  in 
which  it  stands  out  upon  the  very  surface  of  the  nar- 
rative. 

The  avowed  inaccuracies  are  principally  three : 
1.  That  the  household  of  Jacob,  who  went  down  into 
Egypt,  consisted  of  seventy-five  persons,  whereas 
seventy  only  are  specified  in  Gen.  46:27.  2.  That 
Jacob  is  stated  to  have  been  buried  at  Sjxhem, 
whereas  we  are  told  in  Gen.  49 :  30  that  he  was 
buried  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah  at  Hebron.  3.  That 
Abraham  bought  the  sepulchre  of  the  sons  of  Ha- 
mor ;  whereas,  according  to  Gen.  23  :  19,  the  pur- 
chase was  really  made  by  Jacob.  But  of  these 
three  difficulties  the  latter  only  admits  at  present 
of  no  positive  explanation.  For  Stephen's  enumer- 
ation of  Jacob's  kindred  as  seventy -five  persons  may 
be  explained  in  several  ways,  especially  considering 
that  the  Septuagint  version  reads  the  number  as 


286  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

seventy-five,  not  seventy,  in  Gen.  46 :  27,  Exod.  1 : 5, 
and  in  some  very  ancient  copies  of  Dent.  10  :  22 ; 
whereas  the  Hebrew  has  the  round  number  seventy 
in  all  these  cases.  1.  Joseph  may  have  "  called 
for"  seventy-five  in  ignorance  of  the  death  of  three 
wives  of  Jacob  and  two  sons  of  Judah,  although 
seventy  only  survived  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
invitation.  2.  In  addition  to  the  sixty-six  men- 
tioned in  Gen.  46 :  26,  Stephen  reckoned  the  twelve 
wives  of  Jacob's  sons,  omitting  Judah's,  who  was 
dead,  and  Joseph's,  who  was  in  Egypt,  as  well  as 
Joseph  himself,  for  the  same  reason.  3.  The  Sep- 
tuagint,  quoted  by  Stephen,  may  have  added  the 
sons  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  from  1  Chron.  7 :  14- 
21,  while  the  Hebrew  text  omits  them  as  not  born 
till  afterwards. 

As  regards  the  second  objection,  it  is  not  spe- 
cifically stated  that  Jacob  was  buried  in  Sychem. 
The  words  used  are  "were  carried  over  and  were 
laid,"  not  "was  carried  over  and  was  laid."  Hence 
it  is  not  Jacob  who  is  intended,  but  "our  fathers." 
Jewish  tradition  asserts  that  their  bodies  were  car- 
ried over  and  buried  in  Sychem.  Certainly  there  is 
not  a  word  in  Scripture  to  contradict  the  fact. 

Thus  the  only  real  difficulty  is  in  the  alleged 
fact  of  Abraham's  purchase  of  the  sepulchre.  But 
if  the  principle  asserted  in  rule  1  of  this  chapter  be 
admitted  to  be  correct,  we  are  at  liberty  to  suppose 
that  the  mistake  has  arisen  in  the  transcription,  the 
word  Abraham  being  written  for  Jacob.  To  sup- 
pose that  Stephen,  speaking  to  an  assembly  famil- 
iar with   every  word  of  their  ancient  Scriptures, 


ALLEGED  INACCURACIES.  287 

even  counting  the  letters  and  cherishing  every  link 
of  their  genealogy  with  almost  superstitious  rever- 
ence, should  make  a  palpable  blunder,  is  incredi- 
ble. Equally  incredible  is  it  that  St.  Luke,  familiar, 
like  Stephen,  with  Jewish  habits  and  information, 
should  put  into  Stephen's  mouth  by  any  mistake  of 
his  own  such  a  gross  and  patent  blunder  as  this 
would  be.  The  very  greatness  of  the  mistake  takes 
from  it  any  argumentative  weight ;  for  either  it  is  a 
mistake  of  the  copyist,  or  else  the  expression  of  St. 
Stephen  was  founded  on  some  familiar  mode  of 
speech  recognized  among  the  Jews,  and  only  embar- 
rassing to  us  from  want  of  the  key  to  explain  it ; 
or  lastly,  there  is  some  unknown  fact  involved 
in  the  statement  which  it  has  not  pleased  God 
as  yet  to  make  known  to  us.  It  can  scarcely  be 
called  a  trial  of  faith  to  find  in  the  whole  range  of 
Scripture  one  solitary  contradiction  which  we  can- 
not solve. 

It  follows  from  all  the  foregoing  that  the  evi- 
dence adduced  in  disproof  of  the  truth  of  Scripture 
is  both  weak  in  its  character  and  altogether  devoid 
of  proof;  the  alleged  difficulties  turn  out  to  be  no 
difficulties  at  all  to  those  who  are  willing  to  accept 
man's  part  in  the  composition  of  the  Bible  on  the 
one  side,  and  God's  part  upon  the  other.  The  posi- 
tive evidences  previously  adduced  in  support  of  the 
absolute  truth  of  Scripture  stand  therefore  in  all 
their  strength,  wholly  unshaken  by  any  evidence  on 
the  other  side.  We  maintain  not  only  that  Scrip- 
ture clearly  asserts  by  implication  its  own  infalli- 
bility, but  also  that  the  claim  is  supported  by  the 


288  GOD'S   WORD  WRITTEN. 

plain  facts  of  the  case.  With  what  might  have 
been  we  have  nothing  to  do;  we  are  only  concerned 
with  facts  as  they  are.  The  case  stands  thus:  that 
we  have  the  most  unanswerable  evidence  for  the 
truth  of  Scripture,  and  not  a  tittle  of  evidence 
against  it. 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  289 

CHAPTER   XYI. 

THE   WORD    OF    GOD    IS  VERBALLY  INSPIRED. 

Inspiration  Coextensive  with  the  Truth  of  Scripture — What  is 
meant  by  Verbal  Inspiration,  and  what  is  not  meant  by  It — 
Other  Theories  shown  to  be  Inconsistent  with  the  Facts  of  the 
Case — Post-hoc  Testimony  of  Scripture  Itself — The  Inspiration 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  asserted  by  the  Writers  of  the  New — 
The  Separate  Words  Authoritative,  and  therefore  God-inspir- 
ed— Old  Testament  Quotations,  and  the  Principles  involved  in 
Them — The  Verbal  Inspiration  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  course  of  argument  followed  in  this  work 
has  been  to  prove  the  inspiration  of  Scripture  from 
its  truth,  and  not  its  truth  from  its  inspiration. 
(See  chapter  8.)  Having  proved  its  truth  by  an 
accumulation  of  those  minute  instances  by  which 
alone  it  is  possible  that  it  should  be  proved,  I  am 
now  entitled  to  deduce  from  it  not  alone  the  fact  of 
an  inspiration,  but  likewise  its  extent.  In  every 
one  of  the  instances  adduced  the  accuracy  or  inac- 
curacy of  the  scriptural  account  has  turned  upon 
single  words.  Had  any  other  word  been  used  than 
the  one  particular  word  actually  employed,  the 
sacred  narrative  would  have  been  inaccurate.  It 
has  been  already  pointed  out  that  the  variety  of 
these  points  of  detail,  the  vast  scope  of  history  they 
cover,  alike  as  regards  periods  of  time  and  geo- 
graphical extent,  and  the  minute  acquaintance  they 
involve  with  the  particulars  of  place,  person,  order, 
and  event,  are  only  explicable  on  the  supposition 

OntVs  Word  13    ' 


290  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  a  Divine  and  cooperating  superintendence  exer- 
cised over  and  upon  the  minds  of  the  writers.  What- 
ever force  attaches  to  this  argument  to  prove  the 
Divine  authority  of  Scripture  as  a  revelation  from 
God  is  available  equally  to  prove  that  it  must  be 
verbally  inspired,  since  it  is  by  the  accurate  use  of 
words  alone  that  its  marvellous  truth  and  conse- 
quent inspiration  can  be  proved. 

The  state  of  the  case  must  be  considered.  It  is 
not  that  now  and  then,  and  here  and  there,  men 
have  existed  claiming  to  speak  in  God's  name,  and 
attesting  their  claim  by  a  more  than  human  knowl- 
edge of  events,  past,  present,  and  future ;  but  it  is 
that  this  claim  with  its  accompanying  evidence  has 
been  advanced  by  one  definite  succession  of  sacred 
writers,  and  by  them  alone.  The  claim,  indeed, 
has  been  very  frequently  made  by  others.  This  is 
natural,  for  when  has  the  counterfeit  ever  failed  to 
follow  the  true  coin?  But  the  evidence  has  not 
accompanied  the  claim.  In  this  one  succession  of 
writers  the  evidence  has  not  only  been  afforded  to 
the  generations  contemporary  with  them,  but  it  has 
survived  in  their  writings  to  the  present  day.  I  call 
them  a  succession  of  writers,  not  alone  because  they 
have  sprung  from  one  race,  as  if  it  were  a  race  rich 
in  God-inspired  men,  but  because  they  themselves 
and  their  writings  have  formed  the  successive  links 
of  an  uDbroken  chain.  Each  one  has  not  only 
taught  the  same  doctrinal  truth  as  his  predecessor, 
but  each  one  has  taken  up  the  line  of  teaching  just 
where  his  predecessor  laid  it  down.  All  the  books 
of  this  series  of  writers  taken  together  constitute  a 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  291 

complete  history  and  a  complete  system  of  truth,  to 
which  nothing  can  be  added,  from  which  nothing- 
can  be  taken  away.  But  they  have  grown  into  this 
completeness  by  the  successive  contributions  of  men 
identified  by  unity  of  race  and  similarity  of  faith, 
but  separated  from  each  other  by  long  periods  of 
time — sometimes  by  hundreds  of  years — as  between 
Malachi  and  Matthew,  and  by  every  imaginable 
diversity  of  personal  circumstance,  position,  educa- 
tion, fortune,  and  character. 

No  other  connected  series  of  sacred  writings, 
constituting  one  whole  system,  exists  in  the  world 
except  this  one.  No  such  continuous  descent  of 
office  is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  the  world  but 
here.    No  other  line  of  men  authenticatiner  a  Divine 

o 

commission  by  prophecy  and  miracle  can  be  found. 
No  literature  survives  comparable  in  the  antiquity 
of  its  date  to  some  portion  of  these  books;  while 
its  later  portions  reach  down  into  the  epoch  of 
authentic  history,  like  a  great  mountain  whose  solid 
base  lies  within  reach  of  sight  and  touch,  while  its 
cloud-capped  peaks  are  above  the  clouds,  inacces- 
sible to  human  foot.  The  writers  and  the  writings 
are  therefore  an  orderly  series,  without  a  parallel. 
This  literature  is  marked  throughout  by  the  most 
marvellous  accuracy  of  historical  detail;  and  this 
accuracy  is  expressed,  as  it  could  only  be  expressed, 
in  words,  and  simple  words.  Surely,  whatever  is 
the  authorship  of  the  accuracy  must  be  the  author- 
ship of  the  words  which  express  it. 

By  ascribing  the  words  of  Scripture  to  a  Divine 
inspiration,  I  only  carry  to  its  inevitable  conclu- 


292  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

sion  the  principle  stated  in  another  chapter,  (chap- 
ter  8,)  namely,  that  every  part  of  Scripture  is 
equally  human,  and  every  part  equally  Divine. 
Thus  the  words  were  human.  Verbal  inspiration 
does  not  imply  that  a  supernatural  influence  made 
the  words,  or  communicated  the  knowledge  of  them, 
for  the  first  time,  to  the  writers.  Nor  does  it  involve 
that  the  peculiar  habits  and  familiar  mode  of  lan- 
guage of  the  writer  did  not  mould  the  sentences  and 
the  place  of  the  individual  words,  perhaps  their  very 
form.  Nor  does  it  exclude  the  possibility  that  the 
fact  affirmed  by  the  use  of  some  particular  word — 
as,  for  instance,  that  the  sons  of  Esarhaddon  found 
refuge  in  Armenia — might  have  been  known  to  the 
writer,  where  such  knowledge  was  possible,  by  the 
ordinary  channels  of  human  information.  In  short, 
it  does  not  involve  any  denial  that  the  man  wrote 
it  to  whose  authorship  the  particular  book  is  impu- 
ted. Verbal  inspiration  admits  all  this,  but  goes  on 
to  assert  that  there  was  a  concurrence  of  the  act  of 
God  with  the  act  of  man.  First  He  endowed  the 
man  with  those  particular  gifts,  and  chose  him  to 
be  his  instrument.  Secondly,  He  guided  his  mind 
in  the  selection  of  what  he  should  say,  and  of  the* 
revelation  of  the  material  of  his  writing,  where  such 
revelation  was  made  necessary,  through  the  defect 
of  human  knowledge.  Thirdly,  He  acted  in  and  on 
the  intellect  and  heart  of  the  writer  in  the  act  of 
committing  the  words  to  writing,  not  only  bestow- 
ing a  more  than  human  elevation,  but  securing  the 
truthfulness  of  the  thing  written,  and  moulding  the 
language  into  the  form  accordant  to  his  own  will. 


VEKBAL  INSPIRATION,  293 

To  sum  up  the  whole,  verbal  inspiration  simply 
amounts  to  this,  that  while  the  words  of  Scripture 
are  truly  and  characteristically  the  words  of  men, 
they  are  at  the  same  time  fully  and  concurrently 
the  words  of  God. 

Many  excellent  persons  are  unable  to  accept 
this  doctrine  of  a  verbal  inspiration.  Two  explana- 
tions have  accordingly  been  suggested  to  avoid  the 
necessity  of  adopting  it.  The  first  is,  that  God 
communicated  the  matter  of  the  revelation  to  the 
minds  of  the  writers,  but  having  done  so,  left  it  to 
the  action  of  their  oavii  human  faculties  to  put  it 
into  words.  The  other  is,  that  the  sacred  writers 
were  inspired  in  all  matters  lying  beyond  the  range 
of  human  discovery,  such  as  doctrinal  teaching  rel- 
ative to  the  nature  of  God  himself  and  the  mode  of 
man's  salvation ;  but  that  on  all  matters  falling 
within  the  natural  range  of  human  knowledge,  such 
as  historical  and  biographical  details,  they  were  left 
to  the  unassisted  use  of  their  own  faculties.  Both 
of  these  explanations  will  be  found  to  be  insuffi- 
cient, and  to  involve  insuperable  difficulties  which 
are  avoided  by  the  simple  belief  that,  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  Scripture,  the  superior  mind  of  God 
concurred  with  the  mind  of  man  throughout. 

'  It  has  already  been  noted  (chapter  10)  that,  on 
the  supposition  that  the  Divine  action  ceased  with 
the  communication  of  the  matter  of  the  revelation 
to  the  minds  of  the  writers,  we  do  not  possess  a  rev- 
elation from  God  at  all,  but  only  the  human  account 
of  it.  The  sacred  writers  possessed  it,  but  we  have 
only  the  impression  produced  by  it  on  the  minds  of 


294  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

men  no  longer  inspired.  For  the  suggestion  is,  that 
inspiration  ceased  with  the  communication  of  the 
matter  ;  and  as  soon  as  that  was  accomplished,  the 
men  became  uninspired  men.  As  writers,  and  in 
the  act  of  writing  what  had  been  communicated, 
they  were,  therefore,  ordinary  men,  with  no  special 
advantage  above  others.  All  that  we  have,  there- 
fore, on  this  theory,  is  the  uninspired  account  of  an 
inspired  revelation. 

Now,  when  this  theory  is  placed  in  contrast  with 
the  marvellous  accuracy  of  Scripture  on  minute 
points  such  as  are  illustrated  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters, it  is  found  to  be  full  of  difficulties.  For  such 
an  inspiration  must  have  acted  in  one  of  two  ways. 
It  must  have  acted  once  for  all,  revealing  the  sub- 
stance of  a  given  message  or  given  book  all  at  once, 
and  then  ceasing;  or  it  must  have  acted  continu- 
ously, supplying  the  matter  as  the  author  wrote  it 
down,  verse  by  verse  and  line  by  line. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  action  was  complete  at 
one  time,  and  not  revealed  during  the  process  of  the 
writing.  Then  the  retentiveness  and  accuracy  of 
memory  involved  in  the  faithful  transcription  of  the 
matter  becomes  itself  a  miracle  of  no  ordinary  kind. 
The  separate  communications  made  by  God  at  one 
time  were  of  considerable  length,  and  this  in  cases 
where  no  use  of  some  old  long-existing  document 
can  have  been  possible.  For  instance,  five  chap- 
ters and  rather  more  in  the  Book  of  Exodus — viz., 
25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  and  part  of  30— stand  as  one  con- 
secutive and  undivided  communication.  The  twen- 
ty-fifth chapter  begins  with  the  wrords,  "The  Lord 


VEKBAL  INSPIRATION.  295 

spake  unto  Moses,  saying,"  expressions  clearly  de- 
noting that  what  followed  were  God's  actual  words. 
These  chapters  contain  a  great  variety  of  minute 
details  relative  to  the  construction  of  the  taberna- 
cle, comprising  numbers,  and  measurements,  and 
varieties  of  material,  which  must  have  been  retained 
by  Moses,  on  the  present  theory  of  inspiration,  as  a 
mere  act  of  human  memory.  Isa.  8,  9,  10,  11,  12, 
contain  a  continuous  message  of  the  same  kind. 
Hosea  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  is  another  instance. 

Or  let  the  case  of  the  historical  books  be  con- 
sidered— the  storehouse  of  evidences  to  the  marvel- 
lous accuracy  of  the  sacred  Scriptures;  the  Book 
of  Numbers,  of  Deuteronomy,  or  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  It  would  be  itself  a  wonder  that  any 
human  memory  could  retain  so  great  a  variety  of 
facts  with  such  minute  truthfulness.  Yet  if  the 
inspiration  which  communicated  the  knowledge 
operated  at  wide  intervals  and  in  completed  acts, 
the  accurate  transcription  of  these  details  must  be 
imputed  altogether  to  the  human  faculties  of  the 
writers.  Great  efforts  of  memory  have,  indeed, 
been  accomplished  in  the  world,  and  men  have 
been  known  to  repeat  what  they  have  once  heard 
without  a  mistake.  But  in  this  case  not  one  man, 
but  a  succession  of  men,  must  have  been  thus 
extraordinarily  endowed.  If  this  be  so,  then  the 
credit  due  to  the  veracity  of  Scripture  must  be 
divided  between  the  God  who  communicated  the 
knowledge  and  the  men  who  so  wonderfully  remem- 
bered and  so  accurately  transcribed  it.  Half  the 
honor  must  belong  to  God,  and  half  to  man.     If, 


296  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

to  avoid  this  conclusion,  it  be  said  that  God  gave 
extraordinary  help  to  the  memories  of  the  sacred 
writers,  this  is  the  same  as  saying  that  he  inspired 
them,  not  alone  by  communicating  truth  to  them, 
but  in  assisting  them  to  communicate  it  to  others. 
If  inspiration  be  admitted  to  have  acted  in  both 
directions  of  receiving  and  conveying,  then  the  the- 
ory under  discussion  is  confessed  to  be  untenable. 

But  let  us  suppose  that  the  action  of  the  Divine 
mind,  in  communicating  to  the  sacred  writers  the 
matter  of  their  books,  did  not  consist  of  perfect  acts 
done  and  then  ended,  but  of  a  continuous  influence 
acting  on  the  memory  all  through,  then  another 
kind  of  difficulty  arises.  It  involves  the  idea  that 
God  was  acting  on  the  mind  of  man  throughout, 
and  yet  only  on  one  part  of  his  mind ;  strengthen- 
ing the  memory,  but  leaving  all  the  other  faculties 
untouched.  Such  a  thing  would  be  as  wonderful 
as  it  was  that  the  dew  fell  upon  Gideon's  fleece  and 
not  on  the  floor  around  it,  and  again  fell  on  the 
floor  and  left  the  fleece  dry.  It  would  be  as  if  a 
breath  from  heaven  could  touch  one  note  of  a  harp, 
and  set  it  thrilling  with  music,  and  yet  not  draw 
from  the  other  strings  a  single  harmonious  note. 
If  we  are  driven  by  the  facts  of  the  case  to  admit 
that  there  must  have  been  a  continuous  action  of 
the  mind  of  God  on  the  mind  of  the  writer  during 
the  act  of  the  writing,  surely  it  is  better  to  admit 
still  more,  and  believe  that  it  concurred  witli  the 
writer's  whole  mind,  and  strengthened  every  faculty 
that  was  called  into  exercise  by  the  act  of  convey- 
ing in  writing  the  revealed  will  of  God  to  man. 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  297 

But  difficulties  not  less  will  be  seen  to  exist  in 
the  second  of  the  two  explanations  now  under  con- 
sideration, when  placed  side  by  side  with  the  de- 
tailed proofs  of  the  characteristic  truthfulness  of 
Scripture.  This  explanation  is  to  the  effect  that 
the  scriptural  writers  were  inspired  in  delivering 
the  great  doctrines  of  revelation  relative  to  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  man,  but  were 
not  inspired  in  recording  historical  and  biograph- 
ical facts ;  that  the  jewel  of  Divine  truth,  in  short, 
is  of  God,  but  that  its  historical  setting  is  of  man. 
But  the  effect  of  this  theory  is,  to  deprive  of  their 
heaven-given  authority  those  very  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture which  constitute  the  evidence  for  the  veracity 
of  the  whole,  and  in  which  alone  such  evidence 
could  conceivably  be  afforded. 

That  God,  in  giving  a  revelation,  should  supply 
at  the  same  time  some  internal  means  of  verifying  it, 
will  be  admitted  to  be  congruous  not  only  with  the 
gracious  character  of  God,  but  with  the  mode  of  ac- 
tion he  has  actually  adopted.  It  would  be  strange 
if  God  had  provided  in  miracles  and  prophecy  an 
attestation  to  the  authority  of  Scripture,  and  yet 
had  afforded  no  means  of  ascertaining  its  truth. 
No  Christian  will  doubt  that  the  whole  fabric  of 
evidence  possessed  by  us  to  prove  the  Bible  to  be 
a  revelation  from  God  has  been  intelligently  pro- 
vided. It  has  not  grown  by  chance,  but  has  been 
schemed  by  the  mind  of  God,  ordered  by  his  good- 
ness, and  framed  by  his  wisdom.  But  of  this  scheme, 
the  confirmation  of  its  truth  by  the  testimony  of  sec- 
ular history  and  archaeological  discovery  constitutes 

13* 


298  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

an  important  portion.  But  this  proof  lies  altogether 
in  the  historical  details  of  Scripture,  not  in  its  doc- 
trines. We  have  no  possible  means  of  putting  to 
any  practical  tests  its  doctrines,  such  as  the  trinity 
of  persons  in  the  Godhead,  the  union  of  two  natures 
in  Christ,  the  justification  of  the  sinner  by  faith,  or 
the  person  and  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We 
cannot  climb  up  into  heaven,  and  see  the  eternal 
realities  to  which  the  revealed  doctrines  correspond. 
We  accept  them,  because  we  find  them  contained 
in  a  revelation  we  believe  to  have  come  from  God. 
But  we  have  no  possible  means  of  proving  them. 
We  have  means  of  testing  the  accuracy  of  historical 
facts ;  and  in  these  facts,  therefore,  it  is  natural 
that  God  should  supply  the  means  of  verifying  his 
own  words. 

This  reference  to  things  intelligible  to  man  in 
proof  of  things  lying  beyond  the  reach  of  his  knowl- 
edge, is  illustrated  by  an  incident  in  the  life  of  our 
Lord.  When  he  had  declared  to  the  paralytic  man 
at  Capernaum,  as  he  was  let  down  on  his  couch  in 
the  assembled  throng,  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins, 
"  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee," 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees  murmured  at  him,  "  Who 
can  forgive  sins  but  God  alone  ?"  The  thought  in 
their  minds  was  probably  some  such  thing  as  this : 
"It  is  very  well  for  this  man  to  say,  '  Thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee,'  for  who  can  tell  whether  they  are 
forgiven  or  not?  But  if  he  had  cured  the  man's 
bodily  illness,  we  could  have  judged  of  the  reality 
of  that,  and  so  known  whether  his  words  are  true." 
To  this  thought  our  Lord  replied  alike  by  his  words 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  299 

and  by  his  act :  "  Whether  is  easier,  to  say,  Thy 
sins  be  forgiven  thee  ;  or  to  say,  Arise  and  walk?" 
that  is,  they  were  both  equally  easy  to  his  Divine 
power.  But  as  they  doubted  what  they  could  not 
prove,  he  would  give  them  an  evidence  they  could 
prove :  "  that  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  man 
hath  power  to  forgive  sins;"  then  he  turned  round 
to  the  sufferer  with  the  words,  "  Arise,  take  up  thy 
bed,  and  walk."  Mark  2:1-11.  The  lower  exer- 
cise of  power  which  lay  within  the  human  sphere 
was  the  evidence  of  the  higher  exercise  of  power 
which  lay  within  the  Divine. 

It  is  on  the  same  principle  that  He  supplies  in 
historical  facts,  lying  within  human  proof  or  dis- 
proof, the  verification  of  a  revelation  whose  highest 
object  is  to  reveal  doctrines  altogether  belonging  to 
another  sphere.  The  simple  and  self-evident  fact, 
that  in  this  way  alone  could  a  verification  be  possi- 
bly afforded,  is  enough  to  prove  what  has  already 
been  insisted  upon  from  several  points  of  view  in 
the  preceding  chapters ;  viz.,  that  the  historical  por- 
tions of  Scripture  are  inseparably  identified  with 
the  doctrinal,  and  form  component  parts  of  one  and 
the  same  revelation,  invested  with  one  and  the  same 
authority. 

But  if  the  explanation  be  accepted  that  the  doc- 
trinal portions  of  the  Bible  are  inspired,  but  not  the 
historical,  the  whole  of  this  falls  to  the  ground.  The 
argument  for  the  Divine  authenticity  of  Scripture 
derived  from  historical  evidences  can  no  longer  be 
sustained,  because,  according  to  the  theory,  the  his- 
torical portions  are  human,  while  the  doctrinal  are 


300  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

acknowledged  to  be  Divine.  If  the  one  are  to  be 
accepted  as  evidences  for  the  other,  they  must  both 
proceed  from  the  same  origin  and  authority.  The 
accuracy  of  uninspired  writers  in  narrating  history 
can  be  no  proof  that  they  are  inspired  when  they 
teach  doctrine.  It  may  be  argued,  indeed,  that  if 
these  writers  are  worthy  of  credit  in  that  which 
proceeds  from  themselves,  they  must  be  much  more 
worthy  of  credit  in  that  which  they  profess  to  have 
received  from  God.  But  the  argument,  however 
apparently  plausible,  does  not  hold  good;  for  his- 
tory supplies  many  instances  of  writers,  sensible 
and  trustworthy  on  secular  subjects,  but  fanatical 
to  the  extreme  and  utterly  untrustworthy  on  reli- 
gious. I  may  mention  the  instance  of  Baron  Swe- 
denborg,  an  able  and  learned  man  on  matters  of 
science,  but  on  matters  of  religion,  the  author  of 
one  of  the  wildest  systems  known  to  modern  times. 
Because  the  sacred  writers  wrote  sensibly  and  accu- 
rately upon  secular  matters,  it  would  not  follow  that 
they  are  to  be  accepted  as  authoritative  teachers  in 
religion.  The  credibility  of  the  historical  portions 
of  Scrijoture  can  only  be  a  proof  of  the  credibility  of 
the  doctrinal  portions,  so  long  as  both  have  pro- 
ceeded from  one  authority,  and  have  been  written 
under  one  and  the  same  influence. 

A  twofold  answer  is  supplied  by  these  consider- 
ations in  disproof  of  the  theory  which  would  limit 
inspiration  to  the  doctrinal  portions  of  the  Word 
only.  (1.)  The  wonderful  accuracy  of  Scripture  in 
these  minute  details  can  onhv  be  explained  by  the 
exercise  of  a  Divine  omniscience.     (2.)  If  inspira- 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  301 

tion  be  confined  to  subjects  beyond  the  scope  of 
human  knowledge,  we  neither  have  nor  can  we 
possibly  have  any  means  whatever  of  verifying  the 
whole  revelation. 

Hence  the  natural  conclusion  arising  from  the 
proofs  already  adduced  is  confirmed,  not  weakened, 
by  the  explanations  advanced  with  the  view  of  get- 
ting rid  of  it.  The  proofs  are  verbal,  and  turn  upon 
single  words.  Therefore  inspiration  must  be  ver- 
bal, and  deal  with  single  words  likewise. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  conclusion 
rests  on  scriptural  evidence.  This  will  be  made 
clear  by  a  recapitulation  of  the  argument.  I  have 
shown  that  Scripture  advances  the  highest  conceiv- 
able claims  relative  to  its  own  source  and  authority. 
These  claims  necessarily  involve  the  truth  of  Scrip- 
ture. This  truth  has  been  tested  by  an  appeal  to 
the  facts,  both  to  the  facts  existing  in  support  of 
the  claim,  and  the  facts  alleged  in  disproof  of  it. 
The  result  of  the  appeal  has  confirmed  by  inde- 
pendent evidence  the  character  of  perfect  truthful- 
ness ascribed  by  Scripture  to  itself.  The  conclu- 
sion that  inspiration  must  be  verbal  because  the 
truthfulness  is  verbal,  is  but  the  sequel  of  this  line 
of  argument,  and  partakes  of  the  scriptural  charac- 
ter of  the  premises  on  which  it  is  founded. 

I  now  desire  to  carry  this  scriptural  evidence  a 
step  farther.  I  have  shown  that  the  inspiration  of 
the  words  of  Scripture  necessarily  follows  from  its 
own  general  teaching  relative  to  itself;  I  now  add 
that  this  conclusion  is  asserted  by  the  immediate 
and  direct  testimonies  of  the  inspired  writers. 


302  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Now,  the  contents  of  Scripture  are  of  two  kinds. 
1.  We  have  direct  messages  from  God.  These  por- 
tions I  venture  to  call  "ministerial,"  in  reference  to 
the  writers.  And  2.  "We  have  historical  and  bio- 
graphical narratives,  and  the  description  of  visions 
presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  prophet.  These  por- 
tions I  venture  to  call  "personal."  The  direct 
messages  from  God  constitute  a  very  considerable 
proportion  of  the  whole.  It  includes  the  latter 
portion  of  the  Book  of  Exodus,  the  entire  Book  of 
Leviticus,  many  chapters  in  Deuteronomy  and  Num- 
bers, the  greater  part  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah — 
the  later  chapters,  from  chapter  41  to  chapter  63, 
expressly  and  in  form  bearing  this  character ;  thirty 
chapters  out  of  the  fifty-two  comprising  the  proph- 
ecy of  Jeremiah,  thirty-five  chapters  out  of  the  for- 
ty-eight of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  with  some  slight 
occasional  exceptions,  where  the  words  of  the 
prophet  are  professedly  intermingled  with  the  im- 
mediate words  of  God ;  twelve  out  of  the  fourteen 
chapters  of  Hosea,  almost  the  whole  of  the  proph- 
ecy of  Joel,  six  chapters  of  Amos  out  of  nine,  six 
chapters  of  Micah,  the  whole  of  the  prophecies  of 
Zephaniah  and  of  Haggai,  nine  chapters  of  Zecha- 
riah,  and  the  entire  Book  of  Habakkuk. 

In  all  these  cases  we  find  direct  communications 
ascribed  immediately  to  God  himself.  They  are 
introduced  with  the  words  "said"  or  "saying," 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord."  What  God  said  must  have 
been  said  in  words.  It  could  not  have  been  that  a 
certain  impression  of  truth  was  made  by  the  Spirit 
upon  the  mind  of  the  prophet,  and  that  he  was  then 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  303 

left  to  convey  it  iu  his  own  language.  The  word  is 
expressed  and  reiterated  over  and  over  again,  as  if 
on  purpose  to  shut  out  the  possibility  of  mistake. 
God  "  said."  Throughout  all  these  passages  God  is 
presented  as  the  speaker.  The  message  is  couched 
in  the  first  person,  so  that  the  messenger  almost 
disappears,  and  God  is  all  in  all.  "I"  will  save, 
defend,  or  punish.  So  far  as  concerns  these  passa- 
ges of  Scripture,  no  assertion  of  the  existence  of 
inspired  words,  that  is,  of  words  which  carry  with 
them  a  Divine  authority,  can  be  stronger  than  this. 
The  positive  expression,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord," 
must  imply  a  verbal  message  if  it  implies  any  thing. 

To  the  same  class  belongs  the  personal  teaching 
of  our  blessed  Master.  Surety  his  words  were  in- 
spired. Not  only  did  he  speak  as  one  to  whom  was 
given  without  measure  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and 
understanding,  the  Spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  but 
as  one  who  was  himself  Divine,  and  within  whom 
dwelt  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.  In  his 
teaching,  the  supposition  that  a  Divine  mind  only 
provided  the  matter,  and  that  a  human  mind  framed 
it  into  words,  can  have  no  place.  The  speaker  was 
himself  Divine,  one  wdth  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  God  blessed  for  evermore. 

The  existence  of  a  verbal  inspiration  throughout 
these  portions  of  Scripture  does  not  prove  the  ex- 
tension of  the  same  character  to  all  its  other  por- 
tions. I  have  already  said  that  in  addition  to  those 
parts  where  God  is  himself  ostensibly  the  speaker, 
there  exists  a  further  portion  where  the  writer  is 
ostensibly  the  speaker ;  parts  which  are  either  the 


304  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

record  of  what  other  people  did,  or  of  what  the  wri- 
ter himself  saw  or  did.  The  relation  between  these 
two  parts  is  analogous  to  the  relation  between  the 
recorded  words  of  some  great  personage  of  ancient 
times  and  the  words  of  the  historian  who  records 
them.  We  can  no  more  argue  that  because  the 
Scriptures  contain  the  express  words  of  God  they 
are  therefore  the  express  words  of  God  through- 
out, than  we  can  argue  that  the  historian  of  Plato 
possesses  the  genius  of  Plato  because  the  words  of 
that  philosopher  are  contained  in  his  pages. 

This  is  true.  Yet  these  acknowledged  instances 
of  a  verbal  inspiration  are  none  the  less  instructive  ; 
for  they  serve  to  illustrate  how  human  words  can 
be  the  words  of  God,  and  they  thus  clear  our  wa}r 
of  imaginary  difficulties  in  advancing  to  the  evi- 
dence of  verbal  inspiration  in  the  other  parts  of 
Scripture  likewise. 

That  these  specified  portions  contain  the  very 
words  of  God  is  expressly  asserted  in  the  word 
"  said,"  and  no  consistent  believer  in  the  authority 
of  Scripture  can  call  it  into  question.  Yet  even 
these  very  words  are  the  words  of  man  while  they 
are  the  words  of  God.  The  language  is  human  lan- 
guage, and  is  employed  according  to  human  usage 
and  custom.  There  is  the  same  kind  of  difference 
between  the  language  of  God  in  the  Pentateuch  and 
the  language  of  God  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  as  there 
is  in  our  own  English  language  at  two  different 
periods  of  our  history.  This  is  perfectly  natural. 
It  arises  out  of  the  human  element  in  Scripture,  on 
that  side  of  it  where  the  human  element  itself  arises 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  305 

from  the  two  parties  involved  in  the  very  idea  of  a 
revelation,  the  party  receiving  it  as  well  as  the  party 
giving  it.  God  spoke  in  order  that  his  words  might 
be  clearly  understood  and  faithfully  conveyed,  and 
he  therefore  employed  such  words  and  such  a  usage 
of  them  as  were  intelligible  to  the  generation  to 
whom  he  spoke. 

But  this  variation  in  the  language  is  not  all. 
The  distinctive  style  of  the  several  prophets  exists 
in  these  portions  as  in  other  portions  of  their 
prophecies.  The  words  of  God  recorded  by  Isaiah 
are  not  identical  in  style  with  his  words  by  Jere- 
miah and  Ezekiel ;  for  in  each  case  the  prophet  had 
to  speak  the  words  as  well  as  write  them.  God 
used  the  human  instrument ;  and  as  he  used  him 
not  as  a  dead  mechanism,  but  as  the  living  being  he 
was,  so  he  permitted  his  words  to  be  colored  by  the 
personal  peculiarities  of  the  instrument.  To  use 
the  familiar  but  much-perverted  illustration  of  the 
ancient  fathers,  the  prophets  were  like  instruments 
of  music,  and  God's  was  the  hand  that  touched 
them.  A  master's  hand  may  display  the  same  con- 
summate skill  and  exhibit  the  same  peculiarities  of 
stjde,  whatever  be  the  instrument  he  uses,  whether 
harp,  or  flute,  or  violin.  But  the  several  instru- 
ments will  not,  therefore,  lose  their  own  peculiari- 
ties, or  cease  to  be  distinguishable  from  each  other. 
So  it  was  with  the  prophets.  The  same  God  spoke 
through  Moses  and  Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel, 
and  the  words  were  his.  The  style  impressed  on 
them  by  the  prophet  was  much  the  same  as  the  dif- 
ference of  accent  and  emphasis,  of  tone  and  man- 


306  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

ner,  with  which  four  separate  speakers  might  deliver 
one  and  the  same  message. 

It  is  as  if  God  had  left  his  Word  in  this  form  in 
order,  among  other  gracious  purposes,  to  illustrate 
in  these  acknowledged  instances  the  concurrence  of 
the  human  and  the  Divine  elements  in  one  result. 
As  on  the  one  side  in  these  portions  of  Scripture 
the  words  are  immediately  God's,  and  yet  the  trace 
of  the  human  instrument  remains,  so  in  other  por- 
tions of  the  Bible  the  words  are  immediately  man's ; 
and  yet  the  Divine  power  and  authority  survive  in 
them  all  the  same.  An  inspiration  of  the  Word  is  as 
consistent  in  the  one  case  as  it  is  undeniable  in  the 
other.  In  the  words  already  employed  in  a  former 
chapter,  all  the  parts  of  Scripture  are  equally  human, 
and  all  the  parts  are  equally  Divine. 

It  is,  therefore,  certain  that  a  verbal  inspiration 
is  as  possible  in  the  historical,  biographical,  and 
narrative  portions  of  Scripture  as  in  the  rest.  But 
the  possibility  is  not  enough.  What  is  the  evidence 
for  the  fact? 

Here  we  must  deal  with  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments separately.  The  writers  of  each  Testament 
constitute  a  class  of  themselves,  identified  by  unity 
of  subject  and  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  but  separa- 
ted by  a  lapse  of  four  hundred  years  in  time,  and 
also  by  the  circumstances  that  the  one  belonged  to 
the  period  of  the  preparatory,  the  other  to  the 
period  of  a  completed  and  perfect  dispensation. 
The  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  consequently  had 
inspired  successors  ;  but  the  writers  of  the  New  had 
none,  since  with  the  completion  of  the  New  Testa- 


VEEBAL  INSPIRATION.  307 

ment  canon  the  Book  of  Revelation  was  finally 
sealed  up. 

It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  in  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament  we  should  find  reiterated  testimonies 
to  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures such  as  we  do  not  equally  possess  to  the  ver- 
bal inspiration  of  the  New.  Some  evidence  there 
is,  but  it  is  necessarily  supplied  by  the  New  Testa- 
ment itself.  Such  testimony  is,  however,  the  less 
necessary,  because  if  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Old  Testament  be  once  proved,  there  can  be  neither 
motive  nor  interest  to  withhold  the  same  amount  of 
inspiration  from  the  New. 

Now  the  question  to  be  decided  is  this:  Did  the 
office  of  the  inspiring  Spirit  cease  with  communica- 
ting to  the  minds  of  the  writers  of  Scripture  the 
truths  they  were  chosen  to  convey,  and  were  they 
then  left  to  their  own  unassisted  human  faculties  to 
express  them  in  words  ?  or,  did  the  Holy  Ghost  con- 
cur with  the  minds  of  the  writers  throughout,  not 
only  making  truth  known  to  them,  but  preserving 
them  likewise  from  all  error  in  communicating  truth 
to  others  ? 

If  inspiration  be  in  the  matter  only,  not  in 
the  words,  then  we  might  expect  that  whenever 
the  New  Testament  writers  appealed  to  the  Divine 
authority  of  the  Old,  they  would  do  so  by  quoting 
the  matter  only,  and  not  the  words.  If  inspiration 
extends  to  the  words,  then  we  might  expect  that  they 
would  quote  the  words  as  well  as  the  matter.  Ref- 
erence to  the  authority  of  the  words  will,  therefore, 
constitute  in  every  case  evidence  to  the  inspiration 


308  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

of  the  words.  This  evidence  will  be  proportionally 
strengthened  by  the  use  of  single  sentences  or  sin- 
gle words,  and  by  the  amount  of  weight  and  author- 
ity ascribed  to  these  single  sentences  and  single 
words. 

That  it  is  possible  to  quote  the  sense  without 
quoting  the  words  is  proved  by  the  occasional  adop- 
tion of  this  method  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. Forgetfulness  of  this,  and  the  mistake  of 
supposing  that  they  profess  to  quote  the  words 
when  they  really  do  no  more  than  refer  to  the  sense 
of  the  more  ancient  writers,  has  been  one  among 
others  of  prolific  causes  of  misapprehension  relative 
to  the  New  Testament  quotations  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures.  Some  instances  will  make  this 
clearer.  Thus  St.  Matthew  wrote  of  our  Lord  :  "He 
came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth,  that  it 
might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  proph- 
ets, He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene."  Matt.  2  :  23. 
The  attempt  to  find  some  definite  passage  where 
this  title  is  applied  to  the  Messiah  is  rebuked  by 
the  use  of  the  plural  number  by  the  evangelist, 
"the  prophets:"  and  the  word  translated  "by"  is 
"through"  or  "throughout"  the  prophets  (&a  with 
the  genitive);  where  the  phrase  makes  it  certain 
that  the  evangelist  referred  to  the  general  scope  of 
the  prophetic  teaching,  and  not  to  any  specific  pas- 
sages. Thus  St.  John  records  the  words  of  our 
Lord  :  "  It  is  written  in  the  prophets,  They  shall  all 
be  taught  of  God."  John  6: 45.  Again,  "He  that  be- 
lieveth  in  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his 
belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."    John  7 :  38. 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  309 

Our  Lord  gives  his  own  authoritative  explanation 
of  the  language-  of  the  prophets,  but  does  not  quote 
any  particular  words.  In  the  narrative  of  our  Lord's 
trial  and  crucifixion  the  same  general  phrase  occurs 
repeatedly,  "that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled," 
John  19  :  28.  Yet  neither  is  any  definite  passage 
quoted,  nor  is  the  particular  point  of  the  fulfilment 
explained.  Further  instances  of  general  reference 
to  the  sense,  and  not  the  words  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, will  be  found  in  John  8:17;  Acts  10:43  ;  Ro- 
mans 1:2,  7:1,  9:4,  10  :  11,  12  :  9  ;  1  Cor.  1  :  31 ; 
2  Cor.  7  :  18  ;  and  in  many  other  passages. 

If,  therefore,  another  method  is  adopted  in  the 
vast  majority  of  instances;  if  the  quotations  are  ver- 
bal quotations;  if  elaborate  arguments  are  founded 
on  single  phrases,  or  even  on  single  words  —  this 
method  was  not  followed  because  no  other  was 
practicable.  It  might  not  be  easy  for  us  to  sepa- 
rate the  sense  from  the  words;  indeed  I  believe  it  is 
not  possible  for  us  to  do  so.  But  it  was  possible  to 
inspired  apostles  whose  minds  were  guided  to  inter- 
pret by  the  same  Holy  Ghost  by  whom  the  ancient 
writers  were  guided  to  write.  With  this  teaching 
they  could  pass  infallibly  through  the  words  to  the 
the  sense.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  their  ordi- 
nary method  to  use  the  words,  there  must  have 
been  reason  and  intention  in  it.  What  could  the 
reason  be,  but  that  the  words  had  God's  authority 
upon  them,  and  were  themselves  sacred?  What 
could  the  intention  be,  but  to  witness  to  the  church 
of  all  ages  the  verbal  inspiration  and  therefore  ver- 
bal authority  of  the  Scriptures? 


/ 


310  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Thus  our  Lord  himself  quotes  the  words  of  Mo- 
ses in  Deut.  8 : 3,  that  "  Man  doth  not  live  by  bread 
alone;"  where  the  stress  is  laid  on  the  last  word, 
"  alone."  Yet  more  strikingly,  in  the  narrative  of 
the  same  temptation,  he  refuted  the  tempter  by 
words  taken  from  1  Samuel  7:3,  "  Him  only  shalfc 
thou  serve  ;"  where  the  force  of  the  answer  depends 
upon  the  emphatic  word  "only,"  "him  only."  Satan 
would  have  been  content  if  our  Lord  had  rendered 
him  worship,  even  though  it  had  been  divided  with 
Jehovah.  His  offer  was  not,  "If  thou  wilt  fall  down 
and  worship  me  alone,"  but,  "  If  thou  wilt  fall  down 
and  worship  me."  He  would  have  been  ready  to 
go  halves  in  the  Divine  honor  due  to  God.  But 
God  will  have  none  of  such  divided  allegiance: 
"  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve."  It  was  by  a  phrase 
consisting  of  two  words,  "  my  Lord,"  that  our  Sav- 
iour retorted  upon  the  Jews  with  the  question  how 
Christ  could  be  the  Son  of  David,  and  yet  be  ad- 
dressed by  the  psalmist  with  the  title,  "  The  Lord 
said  unto  my  Lord."  Psalm  110:1;  Matt.  22:44. 
To  the  memorable  quotation  from  Psalm  82,  re- 
corded in  John  10:34,  our  Lord  adds  the  further 
and  most  emphatic  declaration,  "  The  Scripture 
cannot  be  broken."  In  the  personal  teaching  of 
our  Master,  further  instances  of  the  same  character 
occur,  in  Matthew  3:3;  19 :5  ;  21 :  13,  16  ;  and  Luke 
4:21. 

The  narrative  of  our  Lord's  trial  and  crucifixion 
supplies  several  notable  cases  of  similar  verbal  ref- 
erences on  the  part  of  the  evangelist.  Thus  he 
marks  the  fulfilment  of  Zechariah's  prophecy  of  the 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  311 

"  thirty  pieces  of  silver,"  and  "  the  potter's  field  ;" 
of  the  "parting5'  of  the  outward  garment  by  the 
soldiers,  and  the  "casting  lots"  for  the  inner  woven 
vesture,  as  exactly  predicted  in  Psalm  22 :  18 ;  of 
the  piercing  of  our  Lord's  side,  foretold  in  the  same 
psalm ;  and  the  not  breaking  a  bone  of  his  blessed 
body,  as  expressed  in  Psalm  34.  In  all  these  cases, 
the  correspondence  between  the  prophecy  and  the 
fulfilment  is  wholly  dependent  upon  single  words 
and  upon  their  mutual  combinations. 

In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  the  same  method  of 
verbal  quotation  is  continued.  St.  Peter,  in  his 
sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  declares  the  resur- 
rection of  our  Lord  to  be  the  accomplishment  of 
David's  language  in  Psalm  16:10  and  Psalm  111. 
At  the  first  persecution,  the  assembled  apostles  not 
only  quote  the  words  of  the  second  psalm,  but  they 
expressly  state  them  to  be  the  words  of  God :  "Lord, 
thou  art  God,  who  by  the  mouth  of  thy  servant 
David  hast  said."  Acts  4:25.  A  more  striking 
declaration  of  verbal  inspiration — and  what  I  have 
ventured  to  call  the  concurrence  of  the  human  and 
Divine  elements — than  these  words  can  scarcely  be 
conceived.  God  spoke  them,  but  he  spoke  them 
by  the  mouth  of  David.  Two  other  references  of 
the  same  general  character  will  be  found  in  Acts 
2:34;  13:46. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  argumentative  portions  of 
the  epistles  that  we  find  these  illustrations  most 
abundantly ;  and  the  more  frequent  the  quotations, 
the  more  prominently  we  find  them.  Thus  St.  Paul 
rests  his  proof  that  the  Jews  as  well  as  the  Gentiles 


312  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

were  concluded  under  sin  on  two  little  words  occur- 
ring in  the  fourteenth  psalm — on  the  word  "  none," 
in  the  first  verse,  and  on  the  word  "  all,"  in  the  third. 
Let  these  two  little  words  be  changed,  and  the  apos- 

v  tie's  argument  fails  at  once.  Eoni.  3  :  10-20.  In 
the  fourth  chapter  of  the  same  epistle,  he  declares 
justification  by  faith  only  to  be  the  immutable  coun- 
sel of  God,  on  the  sole  strength  of  two  phrases — the 
phrase  "  counted  for  righteousness,"  in  Gen.  15  : 6, 
and  the  phrase  "not  impute  sin,"  in  Psa.  32  :2.  He 
teaches  the  equality  of  all  men  before  God,  and  the 
freedom  of  this  Divine  mode  of  saving,  on  the  author- 
ity of  a  single  emphatic  word  used  by  the  prophet 
Joel — "  whosoever."  On  this  word  he  elaborately 
argues,  Eom.  10  :  12,  "  There  is  no  difference  be- 
tween the  Jew  and  the  Greek;  for  the  same  Lord 
over  all  is  rich  unto  all  that  call  upon  him."  Then 
comes  the  authority  for  the  assertion  :  "  For  ichoso- 
ever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be 

_  saved."  In  Eom.  14  :  11  he  rests  the  solemn  asser- 
tion, "TVe  shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ,"  on  the  word  "  every  :"  "  As  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord,  every  knee  shall  bow  to  me."  The 
doctrine  of  faith  is  illustrated  in  2  Cor.  4  :  13  by  the 
single  expression  of  David,  "  I  believed."  In  argu- 
ing, in  Gal.  3  :  16,  that  the  promise  of  eternal  life  is 
annexed  to  faith,  and  not  to  human  merit,  he  argues, 
not  alone  from  a  single  word,  but  from  a  single  let- 
ter, from  the  fact  that  a  word  is  used  in  the  singular, 
not  in  the  plural :  "  He  saith  not,  And  to  seeds,  as 
of  many,  but  as  of  one,  and  to  thy  seed,  which  is 
Christ."     The  word  "  all,"  in  Psa.  8  : 6,  is  the  apos- 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  313 

tie's  proof  of  the  universal  triumph  of  Christ,  in 
Heb.  2  : 8.  In  Heb.  3  : 7-15,  he  enlarges,  during 
nine  consecutive  verses,  on  the  force  of  the  word 
"  To-day,"  as  quoted  from  Psa.  95  :  7. 

The  fourth  chapter  of  this  epistle  contains  an 
elaborate  and  profound  argument  relative  to  the 
"  sabbath-keeping  "  remaining  "  for  the  people  of 
God."  In  verses  4  and  5  he  argues  from  the  use 
of  a  tense  of  the  future  in  Psa.  95  :  11,  as  contrasted 
with  a  tense  of  the  past  in  Gen.  2:2.  "  He  (God) 
spake  in  a  certain  place  of  the  seventh  day  in  this 
wise,  And  God  did  rest  the  seventh  day  from  all  his 
works ;"  and  in  this  place  again,  "  If  they  shall 
enter  into  my  rest."  In  his  exposition  of  the  great 
high-priesthood  of  our  Master,  he  points  out  its 
superiority  over  the  Levitical  priesthood,  in  virtue 
of  its  perpetuity  :  "  They  truly  were  many  priests, 
because  they  were  not  suffered  to  continue  by  rea- 
son of  death ;  but  this  man,  because  he  continueth 
ever,  hath  an  unchangeable  priesthood."  Hebrews 
7  :  23,  24.  But  how  is  it  proved  that  he  continueth 
ever?  By  the  use  of  the  two  words  "for  ever,"  in 
Psa.  110 :  4 :  "  Thou  art  a  Priest  for  ever."  He  de- 
duces the  purpose  of  God,  that  the  Mosaic  covenant 
should  pass  away,  from  the  word  " new"  employed 
by  Jeremiah  (31:31):  "  In  that  he  saith,  A  new 
covenant,  he  hath  made  the  first  old."  Heb.  8  :13. 
He  supports  his  explanation  of  the  same  truth  by 
the  relative  order  of  two  sentences  in  Psa.  40 : 6,  7. 

"Above  when  he  said,  Sacrifice  and  offering 

Then  saith  he,  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  O  God." 
Heb.  10:8,  9.     He  illustrates  the  superiority  of  the 

Qn.ri.Word.  14 


314  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

good  things  of  the  latter  covenant  over  the  prom- 
ises of  the  first  covenant,  by  the  full  remission  of 
sin  contrasted  with  the  constant  repetition  of  the 
Mosaic  sacrifices.  This  final  remission  of  sin  is 
proved  by  the  two  words,  "  no  more,"  in  Jer.  31 :34: 
"  Their  sins  and  their  iniquities  will  I  remember  no. 
more."  Heb.  10:17.  And  lastly,  he  teaches  the 
immutability  of  the  gospel  kingdom,  the  "  kingdom 
that  cannot  be  moved,"  in  comparison  with  the 
transitory  nature  of  all  earthly  glory,  from  the  single 
word,  "  once,"  employed  by  Haggai :  "  And  this 
word,  Yet  once  more,  signifieth  the  removing  of 
those  things  that  are  shaken."     Heb.  12:27. 

The  great  majority  of  the  preceding  instances 
are  taken  from  the  personal  rather  than  the  minis- 
terial portions  of  the  word,  four  only  belonging  to 
the  latter  class.  Additional  illustrations  will  be 
found  in  the  following  passages  : 

Matt.  3  :  3  compared  with  Isa.  40  :  3  ; 

Matt,  4  :  4  with  Deut.  8:3; 

Matt,  19:5  with  Gen. 2  :  21  ; 

Matt,  21  :  13  with  Isa.  5G  :  7 ; 

Matt,  21  :  16  withPsa.8:  2; 

Luke  4  :  21  with  Isa.  Gl  :  1,  2  ; 

Luke  12  :  40  with  Isa.  6:1; 

Rom.  9  :  7  with  Gen.  20  :  12  ; 

Rom.  9  :  12  with  Gen.  25  :  23  ; 

Rom.  9  :  15  with  Exod.  23  :  19  ; 

Rom.  9  :  17  with  Exod.  9  :  16  ; 

Rom.  9  :  17  with  Hos.  2  :  23  : 

Rom.  9  :  21  with  Isa.  10  :  22  ; 

Rom.  10  :  15  with  Isa.  52  :  7,  and  53  : 1  ; 

Rom.  10 :  19-21  with  Deut,  32  :  21,  and  Isa.  65  :  1 ; 

Rom.  10  :  5..  6  with  Deut.  30  :  11  ; 

Rom.  11 :  4  with  1  Kings  19  :  18  ; 


YEEBAL  INSPIKATION.  315 

Eom.  11  :  8-10  with  Psa.  69  :  22,  and  Isa.  29  :  10  ; 

Rom.  15  :  9-12  with  Psa.  118  :  1.  and  Isa.  21 :  15,  16 ; 

1  Cor.  2  :  9  with  Isa,  44  :  4  ; 

1  Cor.  15  :  54  with  Isa.  25  :  8  ; 

Gal.  3:11  with  Hab.  2:4; 

Gal.  4:  27  with  Isa.  54:  1-5; 

Gal.  4  :  9  with  Psa.  68  :  18  ; 

Gal.  5  :  14  with  Isa.  60  :  1  ; 

Gal.  6  :  2  with  Exod.  20  :  12  ; 

Heb.  1  :  5-13  with  Psa.  2 :  7,  2  Sam.  7  :  14,  Psa.  97  :  7,  65  :  6, 

7,  and  33  :  6  ; 
Heb.  2  :  12-14  with  Psa.  22  :  22,  18  : 2,  and  Isa.  8:18; 
Heb.  4  :  14  with  Gen.  22  :  16  ; 
Heb.  12  :  5  with  Prov.  3  :  11. 

In  all  these  cases  it  will  be  found,  on  a  careful 
comparison  of  the  two  passages,  that  the  inspired 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  rest  positive  doc- 
trines and  frame  elaborate  arguments  on  the  author- 
ity of  single  sentences  and  single  words  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures. 

If  any  person  will  take  the  trouble  of  examining 
these  evidences  he  will  find  them  marked  bj  two 
peculiarities. 

I.  He  will  find  the  quotations,  when  the  whole 
sentence  is  taken  together,  frequently  incomplete, 
and  not  exactly  corresponding  with  the  original. 
The  explanation  of  this  circumstance  corroborates 
in  the  strongest  manner  the  fact  of  a  verbal  inspi- 
ration. For,  although  the  quotation  of  the  whole 
sentence  be  inaccurate,  the  quotation  of  the  partic- 
ular phrase  or  particular  word,  on  which  the  stress 
of  authority  is  laid  is  invariably  accurate.  The 
comparative  indifference  displayed  as  to  the  rest  of 
the  quotation  only  serves  to  fix  attention  the  more, 


316  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

and  to  lay  the  more  emphatic  weight  on  the  special 
phrase  or  word.  The  remainder  of  the  sentence  did 
not  enter  into  the  purpose  and  argument  of  the 
writer,  and  is  therefore  quoted  generally  to  show 
that  it  is  unimportant.  Thus  in  Heb.  10 :17,  "  Their 
sins  and  iniquities  will  I  remember  no  more.'"  The 
last  two  words  are  the  emphatic  and  authoritative 
words,  and  the  rest  of  the  sentence  differs  from  the 
words  of  Jeremiah  by  the  addition  from  other  pas- 
sages of  the  same  prophet  of  the  words  "  and  ini- 
quities." It  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter 
(chapter  12)  that  an  evidence  must  be  as  extensive 
as  the  thing  to  be  evidenced,  but  need  be  no  wider. 
In  all  these  quotations  accordingly  the  phrase  or 
word  alleged  in  proof  of  the  doctrine  is  there,  and 
there  accurately ;  and  the  context  is  added  generally 
in  order  to  identify  the  passage,  but  for  no  further 
reason.  The  exclusive  attention  thus  fixed  on  par- 
ticular words  can  only  have  arisen  from  the  belief 
that  these  single  words  are  God's  words,  selected 
bj-  his  intention,  and  therefore  clothed  with  his 
authorit^v. 

II.  It  will  be  observed  that  passages  and  parts 
of  passages  from  different  writers  are  grouped 
together  as  the  harmonious  evidence  of  some  com- 
mon  truth.  For  instance,  the  Divine  nature  and 
glory  of  the  Son  of  God  are  proved  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Hebrews,  by  parts  of  sentences 
selected  for  the  sake  of  their  emphatic  words  from 
three  different  Psalms,  and  from  the  first  Book  of 
Samuel.  The  Divine  fitness  of  the  incarnation  of 
the  Son  of  God  is  proved  in  the  second  chapter  by 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  317 

passages  from  two  different  Psalms,  and  from  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah.  Justification  by  faith  is  proved 
by  passages  from  Moses  and  David,  writers  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  a  period  of  between  four 
and  five  hundred  years,  and  whose  productions  be- 
long to  different  classes  altogether.  In  the  argu- 
ment of  St.  Paul,  in  illustration  of  the  eternal 
sovereignty  of  the  Divine  will,  in  Pvom.  9  :  7,  21,  a 
yet  stronger  instance  is  given ;  for  here  two  pas- 
sages from  different  chapters  in  the  book  of  Gene- 
sis, two  from  different  chapters  of  Exodus,  one  from 
Isaiah,  and  one  from  Hosea,  are  all  brought  side  by 
side  in  attestation  of  the  common  truth.  A  refer- 
ence to  the  passages  already  enumerated  will  fur- 
nish additional  illustrations  of  the  same  thing. 

Now,  on  the  supposition  that  inspiration  belongs 
only  to  the  truths  the  prophets  were  commissioned 
to  convey,  and  that  their  words  are  simply  human 
words  aud  no  more,  this  mode  of  quotation  is 
utterly  inexplicable.  Not  only  is  there  no  appeal 
to  the  general  sense  of  the  passages  in  which  the 
quotations  are  found,  but  the  words  are,  as  it  might 
appear  to  some,  violently  separated  from  the  con- 
text, and  are  employed  as  authoritative  without 
the  slightest  reference  to  the  general  object  of  the 
whole  passage.  Thus,  for  instance,  there  is  no 
apparent  allusion  to  any  such  mysterious  doctrine 
as  the  electing  sovereignty  of  God  in  the  simple 
and  unadorned  narration  by  Moses  of  the  fact  that 
Isaac  was  preferred  over  Ishmael,  and  Jacob  over 
Esau.  Still  less  would  any  one  not  possessed  of  a 
Divine  key  trace  airv  bearing  on  the  doctrine  of  the 


318  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

incarnation  in  the  sentiments  of  David  in  Psa.  18 : 2, 
and  22  :  22.  In  repeated  instances  it  will  be  found 
that  no  appeal  whatever  is  made  to  the  general 
sense  of  quoted  passages ;  but  that  single  expres- 
sions and  single  words  are  sharply  separated  from 
the  context,  and  used  in  a  sense  which  the  sen- 
timent of  the  context  would  not  of  itself  have 
suggested. 

If  there  be  a  verbal  inspiration,  this  mode  of 
quotation  is  as  consistent  and  reasonable  as  it  is 
utterly  inexplicable  without  it.  For  if  the  words 
were  selected  under  the  guidance  of  the  perfect  wis- 
dom of  the  Omniscient  Being  to  whose  infinite  grasp 
all  times,  all  persons,  all  events,  are  present  at  one 
and  the  same  time  in  the  eternal  "now"  of  his  own 
existence,  then  they  are  full  of  God,  and  must  have 
a  depth  and  reach  of  meaning,  a  profound  force 
and  significance,  a  faultless  and  unerring  appropri- 
ateness investing  each  single  word  with  the  full 
authority  of  the  Deity.  The  question  to  be  asked  in 
such  a  case  is  not  what  the  human  writers  meant 
to  say,  but  what  "  the  Spirit  which  was  in  them  did 
signify."  AYho  shall  interpret  the  words  but  He 
who  first  inspired  them  ? 

I  do  not  forget  that  these  facts  are  treated  by 
many  persons  in  a  widely  different  manner.  The 
mode  of  quotation  adopted  by  the  New  Testament 
writers  appears  to  them  loose,  wild,  and  inaccurate. 
These  passages  are  therefore  adduced  as  affording, 
in  the  balances  of  a  human  criticism,  undeniable 
proof  of  the  human  infirmities  and  ignorance  of  the 
writers.    And  I  believe  these  critics  are  right  so  far 


VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  319 

that  the}'  present  the  only  possible  alternative  to 
the  conclusion  of  the  preceding  paragraph.  If  the 
words  of  the  Old  Testament  are  solely  the  words  of 
men,  it  is  impossible  to  justify  the  New  Testament 
use  of  them.  I  use  the  word  "justify"  with  the 
deepest  reverence,  remembering  that  our  blessed 
Master  himself  quoted  them  in  the  same  verbal 
manner  as  his  apostles.  But  if  our  Lord  and  his 
apostles  were  right  in  so  .quoting  them,  and  I  can- 
not conceive  how  any  believer  in  revelation  can 
doubt  it,  then  the  words  must  have  been  divinely 
inspired  words.  In  this  proof  of  a  verbal  inspira- 
tion we  find  the  authority  for  our  own  employment 
of  them  in  the  same  way,  interpreting  them  ever 
with  reference  to  their  context,  but  with  a  devout 
confidence  that  they  are  the  very  words  of  God, 
faultless  as  his  absolute  Avisdom,  unalterable  as  his 
own  eternal  will. 

When  we  pass  to  the  New  Testament,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  same  positive  and  independent  evidence 
is  in  the  nature  of  things  impossible,  as  has  been 
already  shown.  But  our  Lord  promised  such  a 
plenary  assistance  to  his  apostles  in  their  time  of 
special  difficulty  that  it  would  "not  be  ye  that  speak, 
but  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Matt.  10  :  20.  This  inspira- 
tion must  have  been  verbal,  and  we  can  scarcely 
conceive  that  a  lower  amount  of  Divine  help  would 
be  afforded  them  in  the  composition  of  the  books 
through  whose  pages  they  were  to  speak  even  to 
the  end  of  the  world.  St.  Paul  positively  asserts 
this  verbal  inspiration :  "  Which  things  also  we 
speak,  not  in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teach- 


320  GOD'S  WOED  WRITTEN. 

eth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth."  1  Cor. 
2  :  13.  No  less  than  this  can  be  the  meaning  of  St. 
Peter  when  he  first  traces  the  life  of  the  soul  in  the 
believing  people  of  God  to  an  "incorruptible  seed;" 
then  identifies  this  word  with  the  actual  preaching 
of  himself  and  his  co-apostles  :  "  This  is  the  word 
which  by  the  gospel  is  preached  unto  you."  1  Pet. 
1:25. 

This  evidence  appears  to  be  incomplete  com- 
pared to  the  accumulated  proof  furnished  to  the 
verbal  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures. 
But,  in  truth,  the  inspiration  of  the  one  Testament 
includes  equally  the  inspiration  of  the  other.  The 
case  of  the  earlier  books  is,  in  the  scales  of  criti- 
cism, weaker  than  that  of  the  later.  The  objections 
urged  are  not  against  the  verbal  inspiration  of  this 
particular  book  or  that,  but  against  verbal  inspira- 
tion at  all,  and  especially  in  those  historical  details 
which  constitute  so  prominent  a  feature  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Yet  here  we  have  a  redundancy  of 
proof  that  the  words  of  the  human  writers  are  at 
the  same  time  the  words  of  God,  as  truly  his  as  if 
from  amid  the  parted  clouds  of  his  glory  our  out- 
ward ears  could  catch  his  own  awful  voice  pro- 
claiming in  the  ears  of  mankind  his  infallible  and 
unnlterable  will. 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  321 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

OBJECTIONS  AGAINST  VERBAL  INSPIRATION 
CONSIDERED. 

General  Character  of  the  Objections — Special  Difficulties  :  1.  The 
Minor  Details  of  Scripture  alleged  to  be  Incongruous  with  the 
Inspiration  of  God  ;  the  Relation  in  which  They  stand  to  the 
Other  Parts  of  the  Word  ;  Their  Connection  with  Doctrine  ; 
Their  Evidential  Value  ;  AVhat  is  Knowable  is  not  Always 
Known  ;  Practically  Inseparable  from  the  Doctrinal  Teaching  ; 
2.  Variations  of  the  Text ;  Their  Supposed  Talent,  and  What 
It  would  prove  ;  Their  Real  Talent  examined  and  stated. 

The  argument  for  the  verbal  inspiration  of  Holy 
Scripture  proffered  in  the  preceding  chapters  has 
been  founded  throughout  upon  an  induction  from 
facts.  The  position  and  influence  of  Christianity, 
its  identity  with  definite  Christian  doctrine,  the 
dependence  of  this  doctrine  upon  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  the  grounds  on  which  we  receive  the 
Scriptures  as  a  revelation  from  God,  the  internal 
evidence  for  their  unity  of  authorship  and  author- 
ity, the  claims  they  advance  relative  to  their  own 
authority,  the  character  of  truth  involved  in  these 
claims,  and  the  proof  of  veracity  gained  by  an 
examination  of  individual  passages  on  both  sides 
of  the  controversy,  have  formed  the  successive 
stages  of  the  argument.  In  each  stage  the  appeal 
has  been  made  to  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  reason- 
ing has  only  been  employed  to  follow  out  the  mean- 
ing of  the  facts,  and  to  clear  them  from  misappre- 
1  1 


32-2  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

hension.  The  entire  range  of  known  facts  relative 
to  the  Scriptures,  when  fairly  combined  and  col- 
lated  with  each  other,  bears  consentient  testimony 
in  one  direction — a  chorus  of  many  voices  swelling 
into  one  song  of  praise.  An  act  of  the  Divine  mind 
concurring,  as  a  superior  may  concur  with  an  infe- 
rior, with  the  minds  of  the  human  writers,  through- 
out every  step  of  the  composition  of  the  sacred 
works,  from  the  communication  or  verification  of 
the  truth  to  be  conveyed  down  to  the  form  of  its 
verbal  expression,  explains,  and  is  alone  adequate 
to  explain,  the  case  as  it  is. 

Against  such  an  argument  no  merely  speculative 
reasoning  can  have  any  force.  Arbitrary  human 
conjectures  of  what  might  have  been,  or  should 
have  been,  God's  mode  of  making  known  his  will, 
are  out  of  place  altogether.  This  is  generally  ad- 
mitted, either  directly  or  by  implication.  The  effort 
has  therefore  been  made  to  marshal  an  opposing 
array  of  facts  on  the  other  side,  and  to  prove  a  ple- 
nary or  verbal  inspiration  to  be  inconsistent  with 
them.  It  has  been  shown  (chapter  15)  that  these 
alleged  proofs  rest  on  a  misapprehension  relative 
to  the  two  sides  of  Scripture,  the  human  and  the 
Divine.  By  some,  the. mistake  is  made  of  supposing 
the  human  element  to  be  altogether  irreconcilable 
with  the  Divine.  I  venture  boldly  to  call  it  a  mis- 
take, because,  if  the  union  of  the  two  be  in  its  own 
nature  impossible,  then  the  great  mystery  of  the 
incarnation,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  must  be 
denied  on  the  same  ground.  Others  admit  the  pos- 
sibility of  the  two  being  united,  but  are  afraid  to 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  323 

give  fair  scope  to  the  action  of  the  human  element 
on  the  one  side  and  the  action  of  the  Divine  on  the 
other.  They  timidly  limit  the  variety  of  form  im- 
pressed on  the  human  revelation  by  the  agency  of 
man,  and  the  absolute  infallibility  bestowed  upon 
it  by  the  agency  of  God.  In  short,  they  find  it  dif- 
ficult to  understand  that  what  is  characteristically 
human  and  what  is  characteristically  Divine  may 
exist  side  by  side  without  either  limitation  or  confu- 
sion. Let  both  be  maintained,  and  the  very  ground- 
work of  objection  will  be  found  to  have  been  swept 
away. 

There  remain,  however,  two  classes  of  objection 
against  a  verbal  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture,  of 
which  a  brief  examination  appears  to  be  desirable. 

I.  The  first  class  depends  upon  the  distinction 
of  the  subject-matter  of  Scripture,  and  arises  from 
the  theory  that  the  doctrines  of  Scripture  are  Di- 
vinely inspired,  but  not  its  historical  or  biograph- 
ical details.  The  objection  may  take  different  forms. 
Sometimes  it  is  said  that  it  would  be  unworthy  of 
the  majesty  and  omniscience  of  God  to  suppose  his 
Spirit  to  have  inspired  the  details  of  genealogy  or 
the  particulars  of  ordinary  earthly  events.  At  other 
times  it  is  urged  that,  as  these  events  lie  within  the 
range  of  ordinary  human  knowledge,  their  Divine 
revelation  would  contradict  the  rigid  economy  of 
the  Divine  dealings,  since  God  would  be  making 
known  to  man  what  man  is  capable  of  finding  out 
for  himself.  It  is  further  added,  that  such  an  inspi- 
ration would  remove  the  stimulus  and  motive  for 
human  labor  supplied  by  the  intentional  imper- 


324  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

lection  of  human  knowledge,  and  the  search  after 
truth  latent  enough  to  require  search,  and  yet  open 
enough  to  discovery  to  reward  it. 

The  groundwork  of  this  class  of  objection  has 
already  been  removed  in  a  great  degree  by  the  dis- 
cussions of  the  preceding  chapters.  For  the  sake 
of  clearness,  I  venture  to  recapitulate  in  a  con- 
nected form  the  conclusions  we  have  reached  bear- 
ing upon  this  question. 

a.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  detailed  facts  of 
Scripture,  alike  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament, 
form  the  outward  setting  to  the  supernatural  truths 
of  the  word.  They  constitute  essential  links  in  the 
historical  unity  of  the  entire  revelation,  and  unite 
it  inseparably  with  the  actual  development  of  the 
Divine  plan  of  redemption  in  the  calling,  education, 
and  history,  of  the  ancient  people  of  God.  They 
bear  the  same  relation  to  the  whole  revelation  as 
the  particles  of  human  language  do  to  its  whole 
structure.  They  are  necessary  to  the  mutual  con- 
nection, and  therefore  to  the  meaning  of  the  whole. 
As  in  human  language,  if  all  words  of  conjunc- 
tion and  grammatical  dependence  were  omitted,  the 
intelligent  sentences  of  human  language  would  be- 
come mere  strings  of  isolated  words  without  a  mean- 
ing, unstrung  gems  forming  no  whole ;  so,  were  all 
the  human  details  of  the  scriptural  narratives  taken 
away,  the  unity  of  the  plan  now  pervading  the  entire 
revelation  would  be  absolutely  lost,  and  the  scheme 
of  the  Divine  plan  would  be  interrupted  in  the  same 
degree.  At  present  we  see  it  to  be  as  consecutive 
as  the  rise  of  a  natural  day,  from  the  first  dawning 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  325 

light  iu  the  horizon  up  to  its  meridian.  But  were 
these  details  removed,  it  would  be  no  more  than  a 
series  of  abrupt  and  broken  manifestations,  without 
any  apparent  common  design  or  mutual  dependence. 
And  further,  the  sacred  history  of  God's  dealings 
with  the  world  would  lose,  by  the  omission  of  these 
details,  its  foothold  upon  the  actual  world  of  human 
experience.  It  would  move  altogether  in  the  heav- 
enly sphere,  and  not  at  all  in  the  earthly.  From 
these  considerations  it  follows,  that  these  human 
details  are  comprised  in  the  structural  unity  of  the 
whole  revelation,  and  are  essential  to  it.  Hence  it 
would  be  as  unreasonable  to  allege  these  details  to 
be  unwortlry  of  the  majesty  of  a  Divine  Author  as 
it  would  be  to  object  to  the  particles  employed  in 
human  composition,  and  allege  the  absurdity  of 
ascribing  to  the  genius  of  Milton  the  little  words 
(and,  if,  but,  for,  etc.)  which  connect  together  the 
sublime  diction  of  the  "  Paradise  Lost."  See  chap- 
ters 4  and  14. 

b.  It  has  also  been  shown  that  minute  detail  is 
inseparable  from  all  human  action.  It  is  therefore 
inseparable  also  from  doctrines  touching  human 
life  and  action.  This  is  especially  illustrated  by 
the  grand  central  doctrine  of  the  incarnation,  life, 
and  death,  of  the  Second  Person  of  the  Deity.  At 
the  point  where  Godhead  came  in  contact  with  man- 
hood, there  the  little  details  of  human  life  inevitably 
began,  alike  in  the  facts  of  the  work  and  in  the  nar- 
ratives recording  it.  If  it  was  necessary  for  the 
grand  doctrine  of  the  atonement  that  the  Son  of 
God  should  become  man,  all  that  was  involved  in 


326  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

his  becoming  man  was  necessary  also.  The  human 
mother,  and  the  human  body,  and  the  human  life, 
and  the  human  experience,  and  the  human  wants 
and  weaknesses,  and  the  human  home  and  human 
relationships,  and  the  journeyings  to  and  fro,  and 
the  incidents  of  hunger  and  thirst,  and  cold  and 
weariness,  must  all  have  been  there,  or  else  the 
reality  of  a  true  human  nature  could  not  have  been 
there.  Will  any  one  deny  that  these  details  were 
present  to  our  Lord  in  fact  ?  Or  will  any  one  say 
that  it  was  unworthy  of  the  Son  of  God  to  come 
into  connection  with  them,  which  would  be  tanta- 
mount to  saying  that  it  was  unworthy  of  him  to 
become  incarnate  ?  But  if  these  details  were  pres- 
ent in  the  fact  and  present  suitably  to  the  Divine 
glory,  why  ma}*  they  not  also  be  present  in  the  rec- 
ord of  the  fact,  and  present  consistently  with  the 
Divine  inspiration?  To  deny  it  would  be  to  deny 
the  consistency  of  a  revelation  with  the  majesty  of 
God. 

But  not  only  would  the  record  of  our  Lord's 
work  have  failed  to  correspond  with  the  facts — that 
is,  have  failed  to  be  true,  if  these  details  had  been 
absent  from  it — but  it  must  be  further  observed, 
that  the  doctrine  is  so  dependent  upon  the  matter 
of  fact  that  it  could  not  have  existed  without  it. 
Christ  could  not  have  atoned  for  human  sin  either 
without  the  details  of  his  life  or  without  the  partic- 
ulars involved  in  his  trial,  and  sufferings,  and  death. 
In  the  close  connection  of  human  events  with  each 
other,  every  little  circumstance  of  the  marvellous 
events  has  its  proper  place  and  significance.     But 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  327 

if  the  facts  were  necessary  for  the  doctrine,  our 
knowledge  of  the  facts  must  be  necessary  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  doctrine.  We  could  not  have 
known  the  oue  without  knowing  the  other. 

Hence  has  arisen  the  peculiar  form  of  the  an- 
cient creeds,  such  as  the  Apostle  and  Nicene  creeds. 
The  want  of  the  full  doctrinal  statement  has  been 
alleged  as  a  fault  against  them.  They  are  mainly 
statements  of  facts.  Take,  for  instance,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  "  Who  suffereth  under 
Pontius  Pilate,  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried ;  he 
descended  into  hell ;  the  third  day  he  rose  again  from 
the  dead."  In  form,  the  creed  is  a  bare  enumeration 
of  facts.  But  in  substance  it  is  much  more  than 
this,  for  the  facts  are  the  framework  of  the  doctrine. 
As  we  could  not  have  been  "justified  by  faith  only," 
unless  the  Son  of  God  had  thus  suffered,  died,  and 
risen  again ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  to 
argue  back  from  the  facts  to  the  doctrine,  and  be- 
cause "he  thus  lived,  suffered,  and  died,"  to  con- 
clude that  we  must  be  "justified  by  faith  alone." 
Hence,  if  the  doctrine  be  consistent  with  the  majes- 
ty, wisdom,  and  goodness  of  God,  the  facts,  and 
record  of  the  facts,  must  be  consistent  with  them 
likewise.     See  chapters  4  and  14. 

c.  It  has  also  been  shown  that  the  only  possible 
means  afforded  to  man  of  verifying  the  truth  of 
Scripture  is  supplied  by  these  details.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  we  can  only  test  the  accuracy  of  a  narra- 
tion, where  the  things  narrated  fall  in  some  way 
within  our  knowledge,  either  by  personal  experi- 
ence or  by  analogy.     What  lies  beyond  this  sphere 


328  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

can  admit  of  no  human  test.  If  we  suppose  it  to 
be  the  will  of  God  to  afford  to  mankind  some  means 
of  verifying  the  accuracy  of  his  inspired  word,  and 
thus  enabling  them  to  distinguish  it  from  the  false 
impostures  of  man,  it  is  by  the  narration  of  histor- 
ical facts  alone,  and  these  of  a  minute  and  special 
kind,  that  such  an  object  could  possibly  be  accom- 
plished. In  proportion,  therefore,  as  such  a  pur- 
pose is  consistent  with  the  benevolent  character  of 
the  Divine  being,  must  the  means  whereby  alone  it 
can  be  accomplished  be  consistent  with  it  likewise. 
Hence  the  addition  of  these  little  details,  whether 
on  points  of  topography  or  of  history,  is  so  far 
from  being  inconsistent  with  the  majesty  of  God, 
and  therefore  with  its  inspiration,  that  they  are 
only  what  an  adequate  conception  of  God's  attri- 
butes and  purposes  would  lead  us  to  expect.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  whole  immense  range  of  corrob- 
orative testimony  afforded  from  profane  sources  to 
the  truth  of  Scripture  depends  entirely  upon  these 
details,  and  would  be  entirely  swept  away  by  their 
absence.     See  chapters  14  and  16. 

To  these  considerations,  conclusive  as  the}-  ap- 
pear to  be,  I  would  add  the  following  remarks : 

There  is  a  great  distinction  to  be  made  between 
things  which  may  be  known  by  man — things  know- 
able,  as  they  are  philosophically  called — and  things 
actually  known.  It  appears  that  a  certain  knowl- 
edge of  many  of  the  historical  facts  of  Scripture  is 
of  essential  importance  to  us,  since  they  form  the 
foundations  of  the  most  momentous  doctrines  of 
the  faith.     We  need,  therefore,  to  possess  an  abso- 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  329 

lute  certitude  that  they  have  really  taken  place. 
But  this  certitude  can  in  no  degree  whatever  be 
supplied  by  the  fact  that  the  events  requiring  to  be 
known  fall  within  the  natural  range  of  human  infor- 
mation. For  this  may  be  the  case,  and  actually  is 
the  case,  with  a  very  large  number  of  particulars 
belonging  to  human  history,  and  yet  we  who  live 
after  the  time  may  be  absolutely  devoid  of  any 
means  of  ascertaining  the  truth  in  regard  to  them. 
For  instance,  a  great  deal  of  ancient  Roman  history 
has  been  conjecturally  reconstructed  by  modern 
historical  criticism,  and  the  reconstruction  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  endless  dispute.  However 
probable  the  modern  account  may  be,  that  prob- 
ability must  ever  fall  very  far  short  of  certainty; 
and  to  make  such  facts  the  subject  of  religious 
belief  would  be  an  outrage  upon  the  human  con- 
science. 

Xow  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  denial  of 
inspired  authority  to  the  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, for  instance,  would  not  leave  us  in  nearly  as 
much  difficulty  in  determining  the  real  facts  of  our 
Lord's  life  as  Ave  are  in  determining  the  events  of 
ancient  Pioman  history.  The  periods  of  the  two 
sets  of  events  are  not  very  far  distant.  There  is,  it 
is  true,  this  immense  difference,  that  in  the  case  of 
our  Lord's  life  we  have  four  independent  histories 
congruous  with  each  other,  and  bearing  on  their 
front  every  conceivable  evidence  of  authenticity  and 
credibility.  But  this  will  not  avail  us  in  the  pres- 
ent case.  For  if  they  were  persons  so  superstitious 
as  to  believe  in  an  inspiration  which  had  no  real 


330  GOD'S  WOED  WBITTEJT. 

existence,  then  they  were  ignorant  fanatics.  If  they 
ted  what  they  did  not  themselves  believe,  then 
they  were  impostors.  But  men  convicted  either  of 
fanaticism  or  of  imposture  cannot  be  accepted  as 
worthy  witnesses.  If.  therefore,  we  take  away 
the  inspired  character  of  the  scriptural  narrative, 
we  really  shall  possess  little  more  certainty  in  regard 
to  the  facts  of  our  Lord's  life  than  we  do  to  the 
facts  of  ancient  Eoman  history.  That  this  is  not 
too  strong  a  statement  of  the  case  is  shown  in  the 
results  of  denying  the  inspired  authority  of  the 
evangelists,  as  illustrated  in  the  romances  which 
Strauss,  Kenan,  and  Miehelet,  have  proposed  to 
substitute  for  the  sacred  history.  A  fact  may  be 
knowable  by  man,  and  yet  may  not  be  known  nev- 
theless. 

What  can,  therefore,  be  more  consistent  that  the 
erection  of  an  inspired  superstructure  of  doctrine  on 
an  inspired  foundation  of  facts  ?  What  more  strange 
and  incongruous  than  that  we  should  have  a  Divine 
authority  for  the  doctrine,  and  yet  for  the  facts  on 
which  the  doctrine  is  absolutely  dependent  should 
be  relegated  to  the  uncertainties  and  possible  mis- 
takes  of  a  simply  human  evidence  ? 

This  consideration  becomes  the  stronger  when 
we  bear  in  mind  that  the  theory  which  represents 
matters  of  historical  facts  to  be  unworthy  subjects 
of  a  revelation  from  God,  does  not  simply  deny  a 
1  inspiration  to  all  these  parts  of  Scripture, 
but  it  denies  to  them  any  inspiration  at  all.  For  if 
it  be  incongruous  for  the  Divine  Being  to  concern 
himself  with  the  record  of  such  facts,  it  must  be 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  331 

equally  incongruous  to  concern  himself  with  their 
revelation.     Not  only  did  he  no:  the  writ-:  a 

in  communicating  them  to  others,  but  he  did  not 
convey  or  verify  the  knowledge  of  them  to  the  wri- 

-  themselves.  Consequently,  these  portions  of 
Scripture  cannot  be  a  Divine  revelation  at  all.  but 
must  be  simply,  barely,  nakedly  human,  and  noth- 
ing more.  Hence  Scripture  must  consist  of  two 
parts ;  the  one  treating  of  doctrine,  and  divinely 
inspired :  the  other  treating  of  the  facts  on  which 
the  doctrine  -     .nd  having  no  authority  what- 

ever beyond  what  may  arise  from  the  honesty  of 
the  human  writer. 

Xow  let  us  see  in  what  position  this  would  p] 
us.     In  bringing  it  to  a  practical  test.  I  find  a  diffi- 
culty in  drawing  the  fine  between  the  doctrinal  and 
the  historical  portions  of  Scripture,  unless  the  dis- 
tinction be  broadly  and  unreservedly  maintained. 
If  it  be  once  said  that  some  portions  of  the  more 
important  facts,  such  as  those  relating  to  our  Lord's 
sufferings  and  death,  may  have  been  recorded  under 
a  Divine  authority,  but  not  the  less  important :     fcs 
it  will  be  found  that  the  whole  distinction  must  be 
given  up.     It  is  practically  impossible  to  draw  the 
line  where  the  facts  are  related  to  each  other  by  - 
gradual  a  sequence  as  are  all  the  facts  of  the  Bible, 
without  exception.     See  chapter  4. 

The  distinction  must  therefore  be  broadly  main- 
tained, if  maintained  at  all.     All  the  facts,  without 
ion,  accomplished  on  the  earth,  and  within 
the  knowledge  of  man,  must  be  put  on  one  side,  as 
recorded  only  and  exclusively  by  man ;  while  the 


332  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

doctrines  are  placed  on  the  other  side,  as  recorded 
equally  and  authoritatively  by  God. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  two  classes  of  passages  are 
so  inextricably  blended  together  that  any  attempt  to 
separate  and  distribute  them  to  other  respective 
sources  reduces  to  an  absurdity  the  theory  which 
requires  such  an  attempt.  I  do  not  speak  now  of 
the  dependence  of  the  sense,  but  of  the  mere  collo- 
cation of  the  words,  and  the  blending  together  of 
what  is  historical  and  what  is  doctrinal  in  the  same 
passages,  and  even  in  the  same  sentences. 

First,  I  select  as  an  instance  the  memorable  ac- 
count of  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  in  John  11.  The 
whole  is  narrative,  and  in  one  sense  historical.  On 
the  theory  under  discussion,  the  facts  cognizable  by 
man  are  narrated  in  human  words,  but  our  Lord's 
doctrinal  teaching,  as  it  exists  in  this  chapter  in  the 
most  sublime  form,  and  especially  all  references  to 
our  Lord's  secret  thoughts,  feelings,  and  purposes, 
are  narrated  in  inspired  words.  The  result  will 
stand  thus  :  the  first  four  verses  are  human  :  the 
fifth  and  sixth  are  inspired,  for  they  record  Christ's 
secret  feelings  and  purposes.  The  six  next  verses 
are  human.  Then  comes  an  inspired  verse,  the 
thirteenth,  which  gives  the  real  meaning  of  our 
Lord's  words.  The  nine  next  verses  are  human, 
and  so  is  the  twenty-fourth  verse  ;  but  one  inspired 
verse,  the  twent}T-third,  intervenes ;  then  follow  two 
more  inspired  verses  ;  then  seven  human  verses ; 
then  an  inspired  verse,  followed  by  three  uninspired ; 
then  another  inspired  verse,  followed  by  six  unin- 
spired;   then  two  inspired  verses,  and  four  unin- 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  333 

spired ;  then  again  two  inspired,  and  the  rest  of 
the  chapter  uninspired.  Is  it  possible  that  a  the- 
ory that  so  blends  up  in  inextricable  confusion  the 
two  elements  of  Scripture  can  be  considered  to 
be  reasonable  and  accordant  with  the  teaching  of 
Scripture  itself? 

But  in  the  doctrinal  portions  of  the  word  there 
are  yet  more  singular  instances.  Moreover,  as  they 
deal  not  with  narrative,  but  argument,  the  separa- 
tion of  the  two  supposed  classes  of  passages,  the 
inspired  and  the  uninspired,  can  be  made  with  the 
greater  ease  and  certainty.  In  the  following  eleven 
verses  of  1  Cor.  10, 1  have  marked  in  italics  the  pas- 
sages which  must  be  considered  to  be  inspired,  that 
it  may  be  seen  in  what  an  inseparable  connection 
they  stand  towards  the  parts  asserted  to  be  unin- 
spired : 

1.  Moreover,  brethren,  I  would  not  that  ye  should  be  ignorant, 
how  that  all  our  fathers  were  under  the  cloud,  and  all 
passed  through  the  sea  ; 

2  And  were  all  baptized  unto  Jloses  in  tlte  cloud  and  in  the  sea. 

3.  And  did  all  eat  tlte  same  spiritual  meat. 

4.  And  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual  drink;  for  they  drank  of 

that  spiritual  rock  that  followed  them;   and  that  Bock  was 
Christ. 

5.  But  with  many  of  them  God  icas  not  well  pleased ;  for  they 

were  overthrown  in  the  wilderness. 
G.   Xow  these  things  were  our  ensamples.  to  the  intent  we  should  not 
lust  after  evil  tilings,  as  they  also  lusted. 

7.  Neither  be  ye  idolaters,  as  were  some  of  them  ;  as  it  is  writ- 

ten, The  people  sat  down  to  eat  and  drink,  and  rose  up  to 
play. 

8.  Neither  let  us  commit  fornication,  as  some  of  them  committed, 

and  fell  in  one  day  three  and  twenty  thousand. 

9.  Neither  let  us  tempt  Christ,  as  some  of  them  also  tempted,  and 

were  destroyed  of  serpents. 


334  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

10.  XeWier  murmur  ye,  as  some  of  them  also  murmured,  and 

were  destroyed  of  the  destroyer. 

11.  Now  all  these  things  happened  unto  them  for  ensamples ;  and 

they  are  written  for  our  admonition,  upon  whom  the  ends  of 
the  world  are  come. 

Another  remarkable  instance  of  the  same  admix- 
ture of  the  doctrinal  and  the  historical  occurs  in  the 
eleventh  chapter  of  the  Hebrews.  I  extract  a  few 
verses  by  way  of  illustration,  and  mark  them  with 
italics  the  same  as  before : 

7.  By  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of  God  of  things  not  seen  as 

yet,  moved  with  fear,  prepared  an  ark  for  the  saving  of 
his  house,  l>y  the  icliich  he  condemned  the  icorld,  and  became 
heir  of  the  righteousness  ichich  is  by  faith. 

8.  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called  to  go  out  into  a  place 

which  he  should  after  receive  for  an  inheritance,  obeyed, 
and  he  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went. 

9.  By  faith  he  sojourned  in  the  land  of  promise  as  in  a  strange 

country,  dwelling  in  tabernacles  with  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
the  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise. 
10.  For  he  looked  for  a  city  ichich  hatli  foundations,  ichose  builder 
and  maker  is  God. 

The  next  six  verses  may  all  be  considered  to  be 
inspired.     Then  the  apostle  proceeds  : 

17.  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  tried,  offered  up  Isaac,  and 

he  that  had  received  the  promises  offered  up  his  only 
begotted  son  ; 

18.  Of  whom  it  was  said.  That  in  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called  ; 

19.  Accounting  that  God  was  able  to  raise  him  up  even  from  the 

dead ;  from  whence  also  he  received  him  in  a  figure. 

The  same  peculiarity  marks  the  whole  chapter ; 
but  the  illustration  has  probably  been  carried  far 
enough.  I  fully  admit  that  these  are  strong  cases; 
but  a  theory  cannot  be  true  unless  it  can  be  applied 
to  all  cases  alike. 

I  earnestly  trust  that  I  shall  not  be  suspected  of 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  335 

any  wish  to  turn  the  subject  into  burlesque.  I  only 
contend  that  one  harmonious  principle  must  be  ap- 
plied to  the  whole  of  such  passages — that  they  can- 
not be  broken  up  into  heterogeneous  fragments,  but 
must  be  invested  with  the  same  authority  through- 
out. It  is  perfectly  consistent  to  contend  that  there 
is  no  verbal  inspiration  in  any  part  of  Scripture ; 
although  I  believe  such  a  belief  to  be  wholly  incon- 
sistent with  the  facts  of  the  case.  On  such  a  the- 
ory, an  inspiration  would  exist  in  the  subject-mat- 
ter everywhere,  but  in  the  words  nowhere.  This,  I 
repeat,  is  consistent.  But  it  is  not  consistent  with 
the  facts  to  break  the  unity  of  scriptural  composi- 
tion into  two  classes  of  passages,  where  the  two 
exist  together  so  inextricably  that  it  is  absolutely 
impossible  to  separate  them.  Inspiration  cannot 
be  at  once  present  and  absent.  Hence  the  objec- 
tion against  verbal  inspiration  on  the  ground  that 
it  attributes  to  God  a  subject-matter  unworthy  of 
him,  and  inconsistent  wTith  his  ordinary  modes  of 
dealing,  falls  to  the  ground.  For  Scripture  itself 
being  the  witness,  the  historical  and  doctrinal  por- 
tions of  Scripture  form  parts  of  the  same  revela- 
tion, and  must,  therefore,  have  the  same  authorship. 
A  single  remark  will  suffice  in  answer  to  the 
objection  that  a  verbal  inspiration  removes  the 
stimulus  to  human  inquiry  on  all  matters  wTithin 
its  sphere.  The  whole  form  into  which  it  has  pleased 
God  to  throw  his  revelation  is  one  grand  appeal  to 
the  human  reason  and  conscience.  And  so  long  as 
its  sublime  doctrines  continue  to  exercise  the  lofti- 
est faculties  of  the  human  intellect,  and  touch  the 


336  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

profoundest  emotions  of  the  human  heart,  as  they 
have  done  from  the  beginning  till  now,  there  is  no 
fear  that  the  disciplinary  purposes  of  GocVs  works 
should  be  less  effectually  accomplished  in  the  reve- 
lation of  his  word. 

II.  Another  class  of  objection  weighs  much  on 
some  men's  minds.  This  is  founded  on  the  varia- 
tions of  reading  existing  in  our  manuscript  copies 
of  the  Scriptures.  It  is  said  by  some,  that  if  God 
had  verbally  inspired  Scripture,  he  would  miracu- 
lously have  preserved  the  manuscripts  without  error 
or  variation  during  every  age  of  the  church.  The 
objection  is  purely  speculative,  and  rests  on  a  human 
conception  of  what  God  should  consistently  have 
done  under  certain  circumstances.  I  have  repeat- 
edly protested  against  such  a  mode  of  argument. 
All  speculations  of  our  own  on  such  a  subject  ap- 
pear to  me  too  utterly  valueless  to  require  serious 
refutation,  even  if  their  arbitrary  and  capricious 
nature  made  it  possible. 

So  far,  however,  as  the  objection  is  urged  by 
believers  in  the  Divine  authority  of  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  one  remark  may  be  made  upon  it.  It 
is,  that  the  objection  would  create  quite  as  much 
difficulty  on  the  theory  of  a  general  inspiration  as 
on  the  belief  of  a  verbal  one.  Those  who  believe 
that  inspiration  ended  with  communicating  the  sub- 
stance of  revelation,  and  did  not  extend  to  the  mode 
of  its  embodiment  in  words,  believe  the  Bible  to  be 
just  as  necessary  to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation, 
and  its  communications  to  be  just  as  binding  on  the 
belief  and  on  the  conscience,  as  does  the  believer 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED,  337 

in  verbal  inspiration.  It  is  held  to  be  given  for  the 
same  purpose,  and  to  be  effectual  to  the  same  end, 
by  them  both.  If  the  variations  in  the  text  are  suf- 
ficient to  awaken  any  misgivings  as  to  the  authority 
of  the  Scriptures  Ave  possess,  these  misgivings  would 
affect  the  one  case  just  as  much  as  the  other.  A 
miraculously  preserved  autograph  would  be  as  ne- 
cessary to  quiet  the  scruples  of  a  believer  in  the  one 
as  of  a  believer  in  the  other.  If,  therefore,  its  ab- 
sence has  any  argumentative  weight,  it  lies  against 
the  authority  of  Scripture  altogether ;  since,  if  the 
existing  text  does  not  correspond  with  the  original 
autographs,  it  is  not  God's  word  at  all.  No  appre- 
ciable difference  is  made  to  those  who  accept  the 
Scriptures  as  a  revelation  from  God,  by  believing 
its  inspiration  to  be  in  the  substance,  or  in  the  sub- 
stance and  in  the  words.  The  absence  of  a  mirac- 
ulously preserved  autograph  causes  no  special  diffi- 
culty whatever  to  a  man  who  accepts  verbal  inspi- 
ration, and  is  only  the  speculative  embarrassment  of 
the  man  who  rejects  it.  If  the  fact  had  any  weight, 
it  would  weigh  equally  against  both  parties ;  but, 
in  fact,  it  has  no  weight  whatever. 

That  inspiration  can  only  have  been  in  the  ori- 
ginal will  be  generally  admitted.  But  we  have  not 
got  the  original,  is  the  bold  assertion  of  the  ob- 
jector. He  means  that  the  existing  text  cannot  be 
considered  to  be  identical  with  the  original  auto- 
graphs, because  of  the  various  readings.  The  ori- 
ginal can  only  have  been  one.  Consequently,  where 
there  are  several  readings  of  the  same  passage,  one 
only  can  possibly  agree  with  the  autograph. 

God's  Wo  .1.  15 


338  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Now,  it  has  been  already  seen  that  the  absence 
of  the  original  autograph  is  no  proof  that  this  auto- 
graph was  not  verbally  inspired.  1.  Because  the 
supposition  that  if  it  had  been  verbally  inspired 
God  would  miraculously  have  preserved  it,  is  a  mere 
human  speculation,  and  cannot  have  the  slightest 
weight  against  a  conclusion  drawn  from  facts.  2.  Be- 
cause the  objection,  if  valid  at  all,  goes  too  far,  and 
would  destroy  not  only  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
existing  text,  but  its  authority  altogether.  It  must 
now  be  added,  that  the  variations  in  the  text  are  no 
proof  against  the  existence  of  one  original  auto- 
graph, because  variations  of  the  same  kind  are 
found  to  exist  in  profane  compositions  as  well  as 
sacred.  The  only  question  affected  by  them  is,  To 
what  extent  are  our  existing  copies  identical  with 
this  autograph?  Are  the  variations  such  as  to 
shake  our  confidence  in  the  authority  of  the  text  as 
it  exists?  If  they  are  not  sufficient  to  shake  our 
belief  in  its  authority,  neither  can  they  shake  our 
belief  in  its  verbal  inspiration.  Its  authority  depends 
upon  its  being  the  very  revelation  that  God  gave ; 
and  if  it  be  that  very  revelation,  then  the  words 
must  be  the  same,  for  the  revelation  cannot  be  sep- 
arated from  the  words  that  convey  it.  When  it  is 
objected  that  we  have  not  got  copies  of  the  original, 
I  reply  by  asking  what  it  is  the  objector  thinks  we 
have  got.  If  it  is  something  else,  its  verbal  inspi- 
ration must  undoubtedly  be  given  up,  but  its  Divine 
authority  in  faith  and  conscience  must  be  given  up 
likewise. 

What,  then,  is  the  state  of  the  case,  and  what  is 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  339 

the  extent  and  character  of  these  variations ;  in 
other  words,  how  far  do  they  affect  the  text  ?  That 
they  are  very  numerous  has  been  often  repeated, 
and  it  has  been  as  often  replied  that  they  are  as 
trivial  as  they  are  numerous.  This  does  not,  how- 
ever, convey  a  sufficiently  accurate  idea  of  the  facts. 
No  one  can  adequately  appreciate  the  character  of 
these  variations  who  has  not  taken  the  trouble  to 
examine  them  one  by  one,  as  they  are  to  be  found 
in  any  modern  edition  of  the  Scriptures.  In  the 
absence  of  this  personal  examination,  a  general 
impression  only  can  be  conveyed ;  but  this  impres- 
sion will  suffice  to  show,  in  some  measure,  what  sort 
of  variations  they  are  which  are  supposed  to  destroy 
the  integrity,  and  therefore  the  authority  of  the 
sacred  text. 

I  take  an  illustration  of  four  chapters  of  the 
New  Testament :  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Matthew's 
gospel,  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Mark,  the  first  of  St. 
Luke,  and  the  first  of  St.  John.  The  variations  of 
reading  in  the  text  of  these  four  chapters  amount  to 
the  apparently  formidable  number  of  five  hundred 
and  fifteen.  But  directly,  as  we  look  at  them  closely, 
they  begin  to  lose  their  substance,  and  become,  for 
all  practical  purposes,  as  intangible  as  ghosts.  I 
divide  them  into  eight  classes.  The  first  class  con- 
sists of  variations  in  the  case,  person,  gender,  or 
number  of  words,  of  such  a  kind  that  either  of  the 
readings  falls  into  the  grammatical  construction  of 
the  sentence,  and  is  equally  suitable  to  the  sense. 
For  instance,  in  Matt.  1  :  21  the  authorized  version 
renders  the  passage,  "Thou  shalt  call  his  name 


310  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Jesus."  The  variation  gives  it  thus :  "  She  shall 
bring  forth  a  son,  and  shall  call  his  name  Jesus." 
Here  the  Divine  authority  of  the  name  is  equally 
maintained  in  either  case.  In  Mark  1 : 7  the  author- 
ized renders  it  "  The  latchet  of  whose  shoes  I  am 
not  worthy  to  stoop  down  and  unloose."  The  vari- 
ation reads  it,  "  The  latchet  of  whose  shoe."  The 
number  of  variations  of  this  kind  occurring  in  the 
four  specified  chapters  is  thirty-eight. 

The  second  class  consists  of  amplifications  or 
contractions  of  the  sense.  Thus,  in  Matt.  1 :  21, 
the  words  "  She  brought  forth  her  first-born  son," 
are  elsewhere  written,  "  She  brought  forth  her  son." 
In  Mark  1 :  6,  the  words  descriptive  of  John  the 
Baptist's  dress,  "  And  with  a  girdle  of  skin  about 
his  loins,"  are  omitted  in  some  manuscripts.  In 
the  thirty-fourth  verse,  "  He  healed  many  that  were 
sick  of  divers  diseases,"  the  words  "of  divers  dis- 
eases" are  sometimes  absent,  but  are  plainly  in- 
volved in  the  diversity  of  persons  healed.  Fifty-two 
variations  of  this  kind  occur  in  the  four  chapters. 

The  third  class  is  made  up  of  differences  of 
spelling  and  the  mere  form  of  words,  and  arises 
wholly  from  varieties  of  usage  and  dialect.  The 
first  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  supplies  eighteen ; 
the  first  of  St.  Mark  thirty ;  of  St.  Luke  thirty-six ; 
and  of  St.  John  fifteen ;  in  all  ninety-nine  varia- 
tions. 

The  fourth  class  consists  of  the  change  of  con- 
junctions, sometimes  differing  from  each  other  by  a 
single  letter,  as  in  John  1 :  16.  The  difference  is  so 
delicate  as  to  be  beyond  the  appreciation  of  any  but 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  341 

a  practised  Greek  scholar,  and  to  defy  translation. 
Seven  variations  occur  of  tins  kind. 

The  fifth  class  consists  of  variations  in  the  order 
of  the  words,  in  affixing  single  words  to  one  branch 
of  a  common  sentence  rather  than  to  another,  or  in 
reversing  their  mutual  position  in  the  same  way  in 
which  poetry  reverses  the  usual  order  of  the  sen- 
tence in  prose.  Thirty-eight  variations  arise  from 
this  cause. 

The  sixth  class  consists  of  variations  of  tense ; 
as,  for  instance,  in  Matt.  1 :  20,  "  The  angel  of  the 
Lord  appeared  to  Joseph,"  where  some  manu- 
scripts use  the  graphic  and  dramatic  present  in- 
stead of  the  past  tense,  "  The  angel  of  the  Lord 
appears."  Twenty  variations  are  added  to  the  list 
from  this  source. 

The  seventh  class  consists  of  the  insertion  or 
omission  of  secondary  and  implied  words,  such  as 
the  pronouns  "he,"  "his,"  etc.,  or  such  as  the 
repetition  of  the  nominative  case:  "Jesus"  did 
so  and  so,  instead  of  the  third  person  understood 
and  the  verb  ;  or  as  the  use  or  the  absence  of  the 
article,  the  use  or  the  absence  of  the  preposition, 
and  others  of  the  same  kind.  No  less  than  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  variations  of  reading  are  of 
this  character. 

The  eighth  class  consists  of  the  interchange  of 
synonymous  forms  of  expression,  as,  for  instance,  in 
the  substitution  of  the  word  "Lord"  for  the  word 
"God,"  the  word  "Peter"  for  the  word  "Simon," 
and  other  changes  of  expression  so  minute  as  to 
baffle  description.     In  one  case  only  is  a  matter  of 


342  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

fact  touched.  This  is  Luke  1 :  46,  where  the  words 
imputed  to  Mary  are,  in  some  manuscripts,  imputed 
to  Elizabeth. 

I  give  these  instances  only  as  illustrations  of  what 
are  called  variations  of  the  text.  They  are  not  only 
utterly  unimportant,  but  they  are  inappreciable. 
Their  existence  is  just  sufficient  to  show  that  God 
has  exercised  no  miracle  for  the  preservation  of  the 
copies  of  the  Scripture.  They  are  so  singularly 
slight  and  trivial  as  to  make  the  substantial  integrity 
of  the  text  a  proof  of  providential  protection,  so 
exact  and  wonderful  as  only  not  to  be  miraculous. 
It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  in  no  case  do  they  affect 
the  sense.  The  truth  is  far  beyond  this.  In  no  case 
do  they  affect  a  single  important  word,  still  less  a 
single  phrase.  Let  every  word  affected  by  these 
variations  be  put  on  one  side,  not  as  certainly  unin- 
spired, but  as  not  being  certainly  inspired,  because 
it  is  not  certainly  identical  with  the  original  auto- 
graph. It  will  be  quite  enough  if  the  verbal  inspi- 
ration of  all  the  rest  be  admitted.  For  this  inspired 
portion,  on  which  variation  of  reading  has  not  thrown 
the  shadow  of  a  question,  contains  so  entirely  every 
expressive  and  emphatic  word,  that  the  denial  of 
inspiration  to  the  remainder  becomes  simply  nuga- 
tory, if  it  be  not  ridiculous. 


RECAPITULATION.  343 

CHAPTEE   XVIII. 

KECAPITULATION  AND    SUMMAEY. 

The  Argument  founded  throughout  on  Facts,  not  Theories — Its 
Progressive  Character  reviewed — Formal  Propositions — The 
Character  of  the  Scriptures — Mode  of  their  Composition — Their 
Characteristics — Their  Authority — The  Divine  Agency  Uniform 
— Verbally  inspired  —  Plenary  and  Verbal  Inspiration — Their 
Infallibility  and  Sovereign  Authority  over  Faith  and  Practice. 

A  rapid  review  of  the  argument  stated  in  the 
preceding  chapters  will  constitute  the  best  intro- 
duction to  its  definite  conclusions.  I  will  recapitu- 
late, step  by  step,  the  ground  it  has  traversed,  in 
order  to  present  its  general  scope  and  object. 

Chapter  I.  The  first  step  was  to  define  the  ob- 
ject of  inquiry,  and  ascertain  what  Christianity  is. 
This  is  rendered  necessary  by  the  peculiarities  of 
modern  controversy,  which  professes  to  handle  with 
the  utmost  freedom  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
without  destroying  Christianity  itself.  But  Chris- 
tianity has  an  historical  existence,  and  its  name  can- 
not fairly  be  divorced  from  itself.  We  mean  by  it 
the  system  of  religious  truth  preached  in  its  com- 
pleted form  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  centred 
round  Jesus  Christ  the  Prophet  of  Galilee  and  the 
incarnate  Son  of  God,  described  by  the  four  evan- 
gelists, incorporated  in  the  visible  society  specified 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  explained  in  the  apos- 
tolic epistle,  and  prophetically  depicted  in  the  great 
outlines  of  its  outward  fortunes  in  the  book  of  the 


344  GODTS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Apocalypse.  This  definite  system  lias  continued 
by  unbroken  descent,  botli  of  an  external  society 
and  an  internal  system  of  belief,  down  to  our  own 
day.  It  is  the  great  civilizing  and  quickening  force 
of  the  world,  the  moral  spring  of  national  progress 
and  of  individual  happiness.  If  we  inquire  into  the 
sources  of  its  power,  Ave  find  them  to  be  twofold — 
distinct,  and  yet  inseparably  related.  A  superhu- 
man energy,  the  influence  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost — 
constitutes  its  efficient  agency;  but  this  agency 
works  through  a  definite  body  of  truth,  in  which  his- 
torical facts  furnish  the  basis  of  sublime  doctrines. 
This  body  of  truth  constitutes  an  harmonious  sys- 
tem of  belief,  and  is  incorporated  in  the  creeds  of 
the  Christian  church.  As  its  superhuman  agency 
admits  of  no  human  investigation,  being  inward  and 
spiritual,  this  harmonious  body  of  truth  constitutes 
the  substance  of  Christianity  in  its  outward  aspect. 
Christianity  is  identified  with  Christian  doctrine. 

Chapter  II.  This  Christian  doctrine  is  itself 
identified  with  the  Christian  Scriptures.  We  must 
discard  all  speculations  as  to  what  might  have 
been,  and  must  take  the  facts  as  we  find  them  to 
be.  As  the  case  stands,  we  are  absolutely  depend- 
ent for  our  knowledge,  alike  of  Christian  facts  and 
Christian  doctrines,  upon  these  records.  We  have 
no  other  source  of  information  Avithin  the  Church  of 
Christ ;  for  the  Christian  writings  remaining  to  us 
from  the  first  century  in  addition  to  the  inspired 
Scriptures  are  exceedingly  limited  in  extent,  and  of 
very  doubtful  authenticity.    But  being  such  as  they 


RECAPITULATION.  345 

are,  they  claim  to  have  no  authority  of  their  own, 
but  refer  to  the  canonical  Scriptures  as  the  Church's 
rule  of  faith.  All  the  other  Christian  writings  of  a 
later  date  follow  the  same  rule,  and  are  but  the  suc- 
cessive links  of  a  chain,  of  which  the  beginning  is 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. We  possess,  therefore,  no  source  of  informa- 
tion whatever  within  the  church,  relative  to  Chris- 
tian facts  and  doctrines,  beyond  the  written  Word. 
Nor  does  any  source  of  information  exist  outside 
the  church.  Profane  history  attests  in  the  clearest 
way  the  wide  extension  and  extraordinary  influence 
of  Christianity  in  the  earliest  ages,  but  supplies  no 
facts  regarding  its  details  which  are  not  of  the  most 
meager  description.  Nor  could  human  philosophy 
supply  from  its  own  independent  discovery  any  of 
the  distinctive  truths  relative  to  God  and  man 
which  constitute  the  sublime  doctrines  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  On  every  side,  therefore,  we  are  shut  up 
into  dependence  on  the  Christian  Scriptures.  It  is 
not  more  certain  that  Christianity  is  identified  with 
Christian  doctrine  than  it  is  that  Christian  doctrine 
is  identified  with  the  Christian  Scriptures. 

Chaetee  III.  What  is,  then,  the  authority  of 
these  Scriptures  ?  They  have  ever  been  received 
by  the  church  as  a  revelation  from  God,  and  as, 
therefore,  binding  on  human  faith  and  conscience. 
The  grounds  of  this  acceptance  are  threefold.  In 
the  first  place,  they  are  the  compositions,  and  the 
only  compositions  extant,  of  men  claiming  to  have 
received   a   commission   to   teach  mankind  direct 

15* 


346  GODS  WORD  WRITTEN. 

from  God  himself,  and  -who  exhibited  the  creden- 
tials of  this  commission  in  their  possession  of  mirac- 
ulous powers.  The  nature  of  the  signs  they  wrought, 
the  astonishing  extension  of  their  influence,  and  the 
known  prevalence  of  their  authority  and  teaching 
at  the  very  dates  and  places  of  their  occurrence, 
place  the  reality  of  these  miracles  beyond  a  doubt, 
and  equally  identify  the  workers  of  them  with  the 
authors  of  the  sacred  books.  Secondly,  the  books 
thus  composed  at  very  different  periods,  and  b}T  men 
of  widely  varying  character,  position,  and  circum- 
stances, are  yet  found  to  constitute  one  whole  and 
single  work,  united  throughout  by  as  clear  a  unity 
of  thought  and  purposes  as  the  work  of  any  one 
ordinary  author.  Hence  it  is  concluded,  that  as 
collusion  or  mutual  agreement  among  the  separate 
writers  was  clearly  impossible,  this  unity  can  only 
have  been  impressed  on  the  work  by  Divine  intelli- 
gence, and  constitutes  the  stamp  of  Divine  author- 
ity. Thirdly,  the  character  thus  attributed  to  the 
book  is  found  wonderfully  accordant  with  the  gran- 
deur and  sublimity  of  its  contents.  It  reveals  truths 
lying  beyond  the  utmost  reach  of  human  inquiry, 
and  so  profound  in  themselves  that,  when  revealed, 
the  loftiest  human  intellect  is  lost  in  their  height 
and  depth.  Hence  the  book  is  believed  to  be  a 
Divine  book,  and  to  constitute  a  revelation  of  God 
to  man,  claiming  human  belief,  and  binding  upon 
the  human  conscience. 

Chapter  IV.  Hence  follows  the  natural  conclu- 
sion, that  a  book  so  wonderfully  constituted  does 


RECAPITULATION.  347 

not  only  contain  the  word  of  God,  but  that  it  is  itself 
the  word  of  God.  If  it  only  contained  the  word  of 
God,  then  part  of  it  must  be  accepted  as  a  message 
from  God  to  man,  while  the  other  parts  might  be 
rejected  as  carrying  with  them  the  ordinary  author- 
ity of  fallible  human  authors,  and  no  more.  Many 
persons  have  argued  for  such  a  division  of  its  author- 
ity, on  the  ground  of  the  historical  and  biograph- 
ical details  intermixed  with  its  grand  revelation  of 
Divine  things.  But  the  facts  of  the  case  contradict 
such  a  mode  of  conceiving  of  the  Scrij)tures,  with  a 
force  which  nothing  but  some  practical  disproof  of 
the  most  urgent  kind  can  contradict ;  for  the  inspired 
authorship  of  the  Bible  extends  equally  to  all  the 
contents  of  the  canonical  Scriptures,  without  any 
distinction  whatever,  and  the  identity  of  authorship 
necessarily  carries  with  it  an  identity  of  authority. 
Moreover,  the  historical  details  of  Scripture  have 
their  place  in  the  structural  unity  of  the  whole  books 
as  evidently  as  have  its  sublimest  doctrines.  There 
is  not  a  detail  without  its  appropriate  place  and 
object.  Whatever  proof  of  a  Divine  inspiration  is 
derived  from  the  wonderful  unity  of  compositions 
so  widely  separated  from  each  other  in  all  their 
human  circumstances,  extends  to  every  part  that 
goes  to  make  up  the  unity,  whether  it  be  a  detail 
of  man's  history  or  a  manifestation  of  God's  wis- 
dom. Nor  is  there  any  incongruity  between  the 
minuteness  of  the  facts  and  the  sublimity  of  the 
doctrines.  The  little  details  arise  from  man's  side 
of  the  scheme  of  redemption,  and  are  inseparably 
associated  with  that  scheme  of  redemption  through 


348  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

the  incarnation,  sufferings,  and  death,  of  the  incar- 
nate Son  of  God.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  an 
equal  authority,  whatever  the  exact  amount  of  it 
may  be,  pervades  the  whole  body  of  the  Scriptures. 
They  are  the  word  of  God. 

Chapter  Y.  The  authority  of  the  Scriptures  is 
thus  generally  established ;  but  its  exact  nature 
and  its  relation  to  the  human  conscience  still  need 
to  be  ascertained.  Has  it  been  given  as  a  subordi- 
nate help  to  the  intellect  and  conscience  of  man  in 
finding  out  truth,  or  as  an  authoritative  and  infalli- 
ble guide  ?  Scripture  itself  can  alone  give  the  an- 
swer ;  and  to  those  who  accept  it  as  the  word  of 
God,  its  answer  must  be  conclusive.  But  does 
Scripture  contain  any  positive  assertions  of  abso- 
lute authority  and  infallibility?  Some  say  that  it 
does  not.  Undoubtedly,  direct  and  reiterated  affir- 
mations of  its  own  inspiration  and  truth  are  not 
appended  to  each  particular  chapter  or  particular 
book.  But  why  should  evidence  be  limited  to  direct 
assertion,  and  necessary  inference  be  excluded?  A 
little  consideration  shows  that  ostentatious  asser- 
tions would  alike  be  utterly  devoid  of  all  weight, 
and  would  be  incongruous  with  the  dignity  and  the 
self-consciousness  of  a  Divine  Author.  We  do  not 
believe  an  earthly  witness  on  the  strength  of  his 
own  assertions  of  credibility,  but  on  the  strength  of 
his  known  character  and  of  the  evidence  he  adduces. 
Thus  we  may  expect  that  it  will  be  with  God ;  and 
thus  we  find  that  it  is.  The  scriptural  writers  are 
not  always  talking  of  their  own  credibility,  but  they 


RECAPITULATION.  349 

speak  freely  of  their  commission,  and  of  the  author- 
ity attached  to  it.  By  necessary  inference,  they 
assert  in  the  strongest  manner  their  inspiration  by 
God,  and  this  inference  demands  and  deserves  the 
same  implicit  acceptance  as  a  direct  statement.  It 
is  equally  God's  teaching,  whatever  may  be  the 
exact  form  of  the  communication. 

Chapter  VI.  These  statements  of  Scripture  rel- 
ative to  itself  may  be  arranged  under  six  heads : 
1.  They  claim  to  be  a  communication  from  God ; 
not  only  a  revelation  of  him,  bat  a  revelation  from 
him,  in  the  truest  and  most  exact  sense  in  which 
the  authority  of  a  message  depends  not  upon  the 
messenger  who  brings  it,  but  on  the  character  of 
the  person  who  sends  it.  2.  They  declare  them- 
selves to  be  accredited  with  the  authority  of  God  as 
of  a  Creator,  claiming  by  right  the  reverence  and 
obedience  of  his  creatures.  3.  They  affirm  them- 
selves to  have  been  given  for  the  specific  purpose 
of  making  men  wise  unto  salvation.  The  writers 
must,  therefore,  be  believed  to  have  received  an 
inspiration  suitable  to  and  adequate  for  their  spe- 
cial work,  just  as  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab  received  the 
manufacturing  skill  needed  for  their  special  duty, 
and  Samson  the  bodily  strength  requisite  for  his. 
They  are  also  the  only  provision  specially  made  by 
God  for  the  communication  of  saving  knowledge  to 
his  creatures.  4.  They  affirm  themselves  to  have 
been  given  to  supplement  the  light  of  nature,  and 
to  supply  that  knowledge  of  God  which  neither  the 
outward  creation  nor  the  light  of  conscience  were 


350  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

competent  to  afford  to  a  fallen  and  guilty  creature. 
5.  They  affirm  implicit  credence  to  be  due  to  their 
contents,  alike  by  virtue  of  their  Divine  Author  and 
of  the  evidences  furnished  in  authentication  of  them. 
This  belief  they  claim  for  matters  of  fact  as  well  as 
for  matters  of  doctrine;  for  events  transpiring  on 
the  earth  as  for  the  deep  mysteries  of  heavenly  and 
Divine  things.  6.  They  assert  their  claims  upon 
believing  acceptance  to  be  so  authoritative  that  the 
denial  of  them  is  a  sin,  and  will  be  punished  as  a 
sin  at  the  great  judgment-day  by  the  righteous 
Judge  of  all. 

Chapter  VII.  These  claims,  viewed  in  relation 
to  each  other,  involve  the  infallible  truth  of  Scrip- 
ture, since  it  is  repugnant  to  all  reason  to  believe 
that  the  righteous  God  would  assert  such  claims  for 
what  was  untrue.  This  truth  involves  the  reality 
of  the  things  recorded,  the  earnestness  and  gravity 
of  the  narration,  the  absence  of  unintentional  errors, 
and  the  freedom  from  intentional  fraud.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  Scripture  does  assert  its  own  abso- 
lute veracit}^,  and  asserts  it  in  the  mode  most  con- 
sistent with  the  self-consciousness  of  an  inspiring 
Deity.  All  its  contents  are  true  according  to  the 
nature  of  their  truth — its  deep  mysteries,  its  grand 
promises,  its  records  of  the  past,  its  unveiling  of  the 
future,  its  majestic  history,  its  graphic  narratives, 
its  ethnological  and  genealogical  details.  In  the 
face  of  its  tremendous  claims,  the  supposition  that 
the  Bible  is  partly  true  and  partly  untrue,  and  that 
a  process  of  elaborate  criticism  is  required  to  sep- 


RECAPITULATION.  351 

arate  the  true  from  the  untrue,  becomes  utterly 
incredible.  For  then,  according  to  the  positive 
statements  of  Scripture  itself,  life  and  death,  heaven 
and  hell,  would  be  dependent  on  a  process  of  selec- 
tion impossible  to  the  majority  of  mankind,  and 
even  to  the  most  educated  precarious  and  uncertain 
in  the  extreme.  The  simple  conclusion  that  the 
Bible  is  all  true  supplies  the  only  solution  of  the 
facts.  The  Scriptures  are  not  only  truly  the  word 
of  God,  but  they  are  the  true  word  of  God. 

Chapter  VIII.  This  assertion  is  met  by  skep- 
tical criticism  with  a  direct  negative.  It  asserts 
that  Scripture  is  not  true,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
Divine.  The  question  must  therefore  be  referred 
to  the  evidence  of  facts.  But  before  we  enter  upon 
this  inquiry,,  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  the  exact 
nature  of  the  question  at  issue,  and  the  standard 
by  which  it  is  to  be  decided.  When  two  parties 
advance  contradictory  assertions  with  reference  to 
one  and  the  same  thing,  there  is  reason  to  suspect 
a  misapprehension  of  the  point  in  dispute.  To 
remove  these  mistakes,  and  lay  a  recognized  basis 
for  common  argument,  must  be  the  first  step.  In 
the  controversy  relative  to  the  authority  and  inspi- 
ration of  Scripture,  these  misapprehensions  refer 
to  two  points :  first,  the  character  asserted  for 
Scripture  as  the  word  of  God ;  and  secondly,  what 
is  meant  by  its  truth.  Now  the  character  of  Scrip- 
ture as  the  word  of  God  is  so  far  from  excluding 
human  agency,  and  therefore  human  characteris- 
tics, in  its  composition,  that  it  necessarily  includes 


352  GOD'S   WORD  WRITTEN. 

them.  There  must  be  two  sides  to  a  revelation,  cor- 
responding to  the  party  who  gives  it  and  the  party 
who  receives  it.  Hence  Scripture  must  necessarily 
possess  a  human  side  or  element  and  a  Divine  side 
or  element.  They  are  neither  to  be  confused  to- 
gether, nor  are  they  to  be  separated  from  each 
other.  They  are  to  be  regarded  as  existing  side 
by  side,  exactly  in  the  same  manner  as  the  God- 
head and  the  manhood  exist  together  in  the  per- 
sonal word.  The  Scriptures  are  not  less  human 
because  they  are  Divine,  nor  less  Divine  because 
they  are  human.  Whatever  is  essential  to  either 
element  is  to  be  retained  in  union,  and  only  what 
is  non-essential  to  be  modified  by  the  combination. 
Every  part  of  Scripture  is  human,  and  every  part 
of  Scripture  is  Divine,  and  the  two  characters  to- 
gether constitute  "  God's  Word  written." 

Chapter  IX.  The  application  of  this  simple  prin- 
ciple explains  all  the  facts  of  the  case.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  human  element — that  is,  the  part  which 
man  instrumentally  had  in  the  composition  of  the 
sacred  books — is  to  be  maintained  intact.  It  in- 
cludes (1)  the  personal  peculiarities  of  the  respect- 
ive writers,  alike  of  time,  place,  circumstance,  char- 
acter, and  intellectual  gifts.  Hence  it  involves  (2) 
the  human  point  of  view  and  the  human  mode  of 
conceiving  Divine  things.  The  object  being  the 
instruction  of  mankind,  it  was  needful  that  truth 
should  be  conveyed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  un- 
derstood. The  instruction  so  communicated  is  real, 
and  the  notions  presented  are  true  to  the  utmost 


RECAPITULATION.  353 

capacity  of  human  language  to  express  and  human 
ideas  to  comprehend  them.  The  revelation  is 
incomplete,  solely  because  of  the  limits  of  human 
powers,  but  the  knowledge  communicated  is  true 
and  real.  (3)  The  human  side  of  Scripture  involves 
the  use  of  all  the  peculiarities  of  human  language 
as  freely  as  they  would  be  used  in  uninspired  com- 
positions. The  force  of  words,  the  construction  of 
sentences,  the  mode  of  stating  an  argument,  the 
emplo3'ment  of  imagery  and  illustration,  and  the 
free  adoption  of  all  the  recognized  figures  of  speech 
employed  by  secular  writers,  are  naturally  to  be 
expected  in  Scripture.  If  these  peculiarities  were 
absent,  the  human  element  would  be  absent.  To 
object  against  the  existence  of  these  human  pecu- 
liarities in  the  sacred  books  is  simply  to  object 
against  the  possibility  of  the  human  and  the  Divine 
existing  together,  as  they  do  in  the  person  of  the 
God  incarnate. 

Chapter  X.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Divine  ele- 
ment, or  the  part  belonging  to  God  in  the  compo- 
sition of  sacred  Scripture,  is  to  be  maintained  with 
equal  distinctness.  This  Divine  element  includes 
(1)  the  selection  of  the  writers,  with  their  special 
peculiarities  of  circumstance  and  character  for  their 
given  work,  and  their  education  for  it ;  (2)  their 
instruction  is  the  subject-matter  of  their  writings, 
alike  by  the  revelation  of  what  was  previously  un- 
known to  them,  by  the  verification  of  knowledge 
possessed  by  them  through  ordinary  human  chan- 
nels, and  by  the  selection  of  the  things  to  be  writ- 


354  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

ten  and  the  tilings  to  be  omitted  from  the  writings. 
Asa  general  rule,  the  sacred  writers  were  conscious 
and  intelligent  agents,  understanding,  more  or  less 
perfectly,  the  meaning  of  their  own  message;  but 
cases  have  been  specifically  excepted,  in  order  to 
prevent  our  limiting  the  sense  of  the  words  written 
by  the  intention  of  human  writers.  These  two  in- 
stances are  found  in  John  11 :  15  and  1  Peter  1 :  11. 
Hence  it  follows  that  the  Divine  element  includes 
(3)  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  in  the  selection  of  the 
words  employed  by  the  sacred  writers.  If  the  Divine 
inspiration  acted  only  in  communicating  truth  to 
the  sacred  writers,  and  did  not  extend  to  their  com- 
munication of  this  divinely  given  truth  to  others,  it 
is  certain  that  we  possess  only  a  human  account  of 
a  Divine  revelation,  and  not  the  very  revelation 
itself.  The  veracity  of  the  truth  transmitted  must 
be  equivalent,  neither  more  nor  less,  to  the  accu- 
racy of  the  words  which  convey  it.  (4)  It  involves 
the  absolute  truth  of  all  the  things  written.  Man 
is  always  fallible,  and  liable  to  mistakes ;  but  actu- 
ally to  make  mistakes  is  as  unnecessary  to  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  human  element  as  not  to  make  mis- 
takes is  absolutely  essential  to  the  Divine.  The 
Bible  may  be  truly  the  work  of  man,  and  yet  be 
true  ;  but  if  it  be  not  certainly  true,  it  cannot  also 
be  the  work  of  God.  The  concurrence  of  the  human 
part  of  Scripture  and  the  Divine  part  of  Scripture 
is  thus  perfect  throughout.  It  is  not,  however,  the 
concurrence  of  two  equals,  but  of  a  superior  and  an 
inferior.  Man  is  necessarily  the  subordinate  in- 
strument, and  God  necessarily  the  originating  and 


KECAPITULATION.  355 

controlling  agent.  Hence  it  follows  that,  as  the 
existence  of  what  is  Divine  in  Scripture  is  no  sound 
argument  against  its  being  human,  so  the  existence 
of  what  is  human  in  Scripture  is  no  sound  argument 
against  its  also  being  Divine. 

Chapter  XI.  The  character  of  the  word  of  God 
being  ascertained,  we  have  yet  to  secure  a  clear 
understanding  of  what  believers  mean  when  they 
assert  its  truth,  and  what  skeptics  mean  when  they 
assert  its  untruth.  Two  classes  of  expression  re- 
quire to  be  explained.  The  one  consists  of  adjec- 
tives of  intensity  and  force,  as  in  the  phrases, 
"strictly  true,"  "absolutely  true,"  " literally  true." 
The  other  of  adjectives  of  quality,  such  as  "logi- 
cally true,"  "  scientifically  true,"  "  historically  true," 
Now  we  mean  by  truth,  the  correspondence  of  a 
statement  with  the  reality  of  the  thing  stated.  If 
they  correspond,  the  statement  is  true ;  if  they  do 
not  correspond,  it  is  not  true.  There  is,  therefore, 
only  one  kind  of  truth,  and  it  can  admit  of  no  de- 
grees. One  part  of  a  statement  may  be  true,  and 
another  part  untrue  ;  but  the  same  part  cannot 
be  both  true  and  untrue.  Phrases  consisting  of 
adjectives  of  intensity  only  imply  that  every  part 
of  the  whole  is  true  without  exception.  Adjectives 
of  quality  imply  different  modes  of  stating  truth, 
not  different  degrees  of  truth.  Whether  a  fact  is 
stated  in  popular  language  or  in  scientific  language, 
the  fact  itself  is  just  the  same  in  either  case,  and 
the  truth  of  its  occurrence  is  the  same.  The  fact 
stated  in  any  modern   almanac,  that  the  sun  will 


35G  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

rise  at  a  certain  time  on  a  certain  day,  is  scientif- 
ically true,  although  it  is  not  expressed  in  scien- 
tific language.  In  the  same  way  an  argument  may 
be  perfectly  logical,  although  it  is  not  stated  logi- 
cally. The  Bible  is  neither  a  book  of  science  nor  a 
book  of  logic ;  nor  is  it  exclusively  a  poem,  or  a 
history,  or  a  biography,  or  a  book  of  devotion.  It 
is  a  revelation  bestowed  to  make  men  wise  unto 
salvation,  and  is  therefore  adapted,  in  all  the  truth 
it  conveys,  whether  scientific,  or  logical,  or  histor- 
ical, or  biographical,  or  devotional,  to  the  compre- 
hension of  those  for  whom  it  is  intended.  Its  truth 
is  one,  its  modes  of  statement  various. 

Chapter  XII.  The  prominent  objections  urged 
against  the  historical  truth  rendered  it  necessary 
to  examine  the  phrase  historically  true  still  more 
closely.  Historical  truth  differs  in  no  respect  from 
any  other  truth,  but  only  expresses  that  branch  of 
human  certitude  which  has  reference  to  the  past 
events  of  the  world.  These  events  have  been  so 
many  and  various  that  no  one  history  can  possibly 
embrace  the  whole,  even  of  those  included  in  any 
one  branch  of  investigation.  Particular  histories 
can  only  deal  with  some  one  portion  of  human 
events,  and  can  narrate  those  facts,  and  those  facts 
alone,  which  are  appropriate  to  their  special  purpose 
and  particular  principles.  The  idea  of  a  universal 
history  to  sweep  over  the  entire  range  of  the  past, 
trace  every  link  without  exception,  and  record  every 
fact,  is  no  more  than  a  dream.  Historical  truth  con- 
sequently does  not  require  that  no  facts  should  be 


BECAPITULATION.  357 

omitted,  since  such  a  condition  would  be  impracti- 
cable ;  nor  that  in  several  narratives  of  the  same 
events  the  facts  recorded  should  be  absolutely  iden- 
tical. It  only  requires  that  the  facts  should  have 
taken  place  as  they  are  recorded  to  have  taken 
place,  and  that  they  should  correspond  with  the 
statement  they  are  adduced  to  prove.  These  condi- 
tions of  historical  truth  are  illustrated  by  the  two 
accounts  of  the  genealogy  of  our  Lord,  given  by  St. 
Matthew  and  St.  Luke.  These  lists  are  recorded  in 
proof  of  our  Lord's  descent  from  Abraham  and 
David,  according  to  the  Scriptures.  As  no  evidence 
exists  to  impugn  any  one  link  of  the  descent,  the 
historical  truth  of  the  genealogies  is  neither  affected 
by  the  artificial  form  adopted  by  St.  Matthew,  nor 
by  our  inability  to  explain  the  mode  in  which  the 
two  lines  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke  met  in  the 
one  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Varieties  of  ex- 
pression affect  the  mode  of  conveying  truth,  but  not 
the  truth  conveyed.  Of  this  truth  there  are  neither 
degrees  nor  varieties  of  kind.  Truth  is  but  one, 
and  the  written  Word  of  God  is  its  Divine  imper- 
sonation. 

Chaptee  XIII.  These  misapprehensions  being 
removed,  we  are  in  a  position  to  bring  the  question 
at  issue  to  the  test  of  facts.  Are  the  contents  of 
Scripture  true,  or  are  they  not  ?  An  immense  mass 
of  evidence  exists  to  prove  the  minute  accuracy  of 
the  scriptural  narratives  on  circumstantial  points, 
where  independent  information  is  at  hand  to  verify 
them.     The  number  of  facts  specified  in  the  sacred 


358  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

Scripture  is  large  beyond  enumeration.  On  no  one 
point  lias  criticism  discovered  a  single  contradiction 
to  known  facts,  while  it  lias  brought  to  light  an 
astonishing  accordance  with  them.  Exactly  in  pro- 
portion as  our  knowledge  of  the  countries,  circum- 
stances, and  nations,  alluded  to  in  Scripture  has 
become  more  precise  and  minute,  in  that  propor- 
tion have  all  the  statements  of  Scripture  been  more 
and  more  verified.  This  has  been  shown  to  be  the 
case,  for  instance,  with  the  geography  of  Scripture, 
and  perhaps  yet  more  wonderfully  with  its  refer- 
ences to  the  governing  nations  of  the  ancient  world, 
and  the  characteristic  manners  and  customs  attrib- 
uted to  them.  Thus  ancient  Egypt  has  become 
known  to  us  through  its  monuments,  and  the 
graphic  details  furnished  by  its  still  existing  paint- 
ings and  sculptures.  But  in  every  point  the  sacred 
narrative  is  so  signally  confirmed  by  these  silent 
witnesses  of  the  past  as  actually  to  fill  up  the  sacred 
outlines  with  a  vivid  coloring  not  possessed  before. 
Striking,  however,  as  these  and  other  similar  in- 
stances are,  more  minute  testimony  is  at  hand. 
Ten  specific  instances  have  been  adduced  from  the 
Old  Testament  as  illustrations  of  other  existing 
cases  of  historical  accuracy,  so  discriminating  and 
exact,  that  nothing  short  of  Divine  inspiration  can 
account  for  them.  In  the  New  Testament  similar 
instances  are  so  numerous  that  only  by  grouping 
them  under  some  common  heads  can  a  general  con- 
ception be  formed  of  their  number  and  variety.  The 
notable  persons  described  in  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures,  and  the  most  memorable  places  made 


RECAPITULATION.  359 

illustrious  by  the  events  of  the  New  Testament  his- 
tory, have  been  used  in  illustration,  and  been  found 
to  supply  proofs  of  accurate  truth  equally  astonish- 
ing and  indisputable. . 

Chapter  XIV.  The  case  is,  however,  much 
strengthened  by  another  class  of  instances.  These 
are  passages  at  one  time  alleged  as  arguments 
against  the  truth,  and  therefore  against  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures,  but  converted  by  fuller 
information  into  proofs  of  the  very  truth  they  were 
once  alleged  to  contradict.  Such  cases  prove  the 
supposed  difficulty  of  explanation  to  have  wholly 
arisen  from  erroneous  and  defective  information  on 
the  part  of  man,  not  from  any  thing  really  inex- 
plicable on  the  part  of  the  Word.  The  natural 
conclusion  is,  that  the  cause  proved  to  operate  in 
these  cases  now  explained  is  still  operating  in  cases 
yet  unexplained,  and  that  the  difficulty  experienced 
in  reconciling  different  parts  of  Scripture  with  each 
other,  or  with  known  facts,  is  simply  the  product  of 
human  ignorance,  and  would  wholly  be  removed  by 
fuller  or  more  accurate  information.  The  strength 
of  this  conclusion  is  exactly  proportioned  to  the  ap- 
parent reasonableness  of  the  objection  once  urged, 
but  now  removed.  Nine  instances  of  tjiis  kind 
have  been  given.  A  review  of  the  facts  adduced 
in  this  and  the  previous  chapter  exhibits  the  follow- 
ing characteristics  :  (1)  the  minute  accuracy  illus- 
trated by  them  is  not  confined  to  a  single  book, 
or  a  single  writer,  or  a  single  section  of  the  in- 
spired writings,  but  is  the  characteristic  of  them 


360  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

all ;  (2)  it  exists  in  particulars  more  or  less  obvi- 
ously incidental  to  the  main  object  of  the  narra- 
tive ;  (3)  many  of  these  details  are  such  as  could 
not  possibly  have  fallen  within  the  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  writer,  and  for  which  no  effort  of  mem- 
ory or  extent  of  human  information  can  account ; 
(4)  the  instances  are,  without  exception,"  drawn  from 
matters  of  detail,  and  in  such  matters  alone  is  it 
possible  for  human  knowledge  either  to  confirm  or 
contradict  the  Word  of  God.  We  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining  the  credibility  of  doctrinal  truths  be- 
yond the  character  of  the  Being  who  proclaims  them. 

Chapter  XY.  From  the  positive  evidence  of  the 
accuracy  of  Scripture  it  is  necessary  to  pass  to  an 
examination  of  the  passages  alleged  by  skeptical 
criticism  in  disproof  of  it.  Skeptical  evidence  is 
found  to  be  evidently  of  a  different  and  of  a  lower 
character ;  whereas  the  argument  in  proof  of  the 
truth  of  Scripture  is  based  upon  positive  and  indis- 
putable facts  proved  b}~  independent  and  impar- 
tial testimony.  The  argument  against  the  truth  of 
Scripture  has  no  fact  of  the  same  kind  to  allege, 
but  is  founded  on  arbitrary  assumption  and  specu- 
lative opinion.  In  proof  of  this  assertion  nearly 
four  hundred  passages  quoted  in  recent  works 
against  the  inspiration  of  Scripture  have  been 
passed  under  review.  The  objections  founded  upon 
them  are  found  to  be  removed,  without  exception, 
by  some  one  or  more  of  the  following  rules,  all  of 
which  are  corollaries  of  the  principle  that  the  Divine 
and  human  elements  of  Scripture  are  equally  to  be 


EECAPITULATIOX.  361 

maintained  in  their  integrity.  1.  Passages  inter- 
polated into  Hie  original  autographs,  or  errors  made 
in  transcription,  are  no  parts  of  Scripture,  and  fur- 
nish, therefore,  no  argument  against  its  truth.  2.  The 
employment  of  figures  of  speech,  and  of  artificial  or 
conventional  forms  of  statement,  constitute  no  vio- 
lation of  literal  truth.  3.  Varieties  of  statement 
are  not  contradictions,  whether  they  arise  from 
recording  different  parts  of  some  common  event,  or 
from  assigning  a  different  emphasis  and  impor- 
tance to  the  same  parts.  4.  Omissions  of  parts  of 
a  series  of  facts,  or  of  particulars  making  up  facts, 
are  consistent  with  the  truth  of  the  narrative  in 
which  they  occur.  5.  Differences  of  style  in  the 
composition,  of  personal  character  in  the  mode  of 
thinking,  or  of  standpoint  in  looking  at  common 
truths,  are  neither  inconsistent  with  truth,  nor  with 
the  action  of  a  Divine  inspiration.  6.  Separate 
transactions  are  not  to  be  identified  with  each  other 
because  of  a  parallelism  between  some  circumstances 
of  an  event,  or  some  portions  of  a  discourse.  7.  No 
private  estimates  of  probability  or  improbability, 
either  as  to  facts  or  doctrines,  can  be  of  force 
against  the  testimony  of  a  positive  record.  In  one 
passage  alone  a  plain  contradiction  stands  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  narrative,  viz.,  Acts*  7 :  14-16 ;  and  here  the 
patent  character  of  the  difficulty  at  once  removes  any 
argumentative  value  it  might  otherwise  have  pos- 
sessed, and  at  once  suggests  the  mode  of  its  solution. 

Chapter  XYI.  The  truth  of  the  veracity  of  Holy 
Scripture,  supplied  by  the  instances  under  consider- 

God'a  Wor.i.  1  0 


3G2  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

ation  in  the  previous  chapters,  illustrates  the  extent 
as  well  as  the  fact  of  inspiration.  For  the  accu- 
racy is  traced,  as  alone  it  could  be  conceivably 
traced,  in  words,  and  in  single  words.  If  God  sup- 
plied the  truth,  God  must  equally  have  guided  the 
words  conveying  it.  This  verbal  inspiration  in  no 
degree  limits  the  human  element.  It  only  involves 
that,  while  the  words  of  Scripture  are  truly  the 
words  of  man,  they  are  at  the  same  time  fully  and 
concurrently  the  words  of  God.  The  theories  that 
God  revealed  to  the  sacred  writers  the  subject-mat- 
ter of  the  revelation,  but  left  them  to  themselves  to 
imbody  it  in  written  words,  or  that  the  doctrinal 
portions  of  Scripture  are  inspired,  but  the  historical 
uninspired,  have  been  shown  not  to  agree  with  the 
facts  of  the  case,  but  to  involve  insuperable  difficul- 
ties. The  only  natural  conclusion  is,  that  the  words 
of  Scripture  are  inspired.  When  we  turn  to  Scrip- 
ture itself,  we  find  this  verbal  inspiration  to  be 
clearly  taught.  In  the  case  of  the  Old  Testament 
especially,  the  writers  of  the  New,  including  our 
Lord  himself,  testify  to  its  verbal  inspiration,  since 
they  quote  it  in  a  manner  inexplicable  on  any  other 
principle.  In  a  vast  majority  of  instances  they 
quote  not  its  sense,  but  its  words,  and  rest  the 
authority  of  great  doctrines  on  single  phrases  and 
even  on  single  words,  taken  from  different  parts 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  so  separated  from  their 
context  as  to  show  that  the  words  themselves  are 
considered  to  be  authoritative.  In  the  case  of  the 
New  Testament,  no  evidence  of  the  same  kind  can 
possibly  exist,  because  there  has  been  no  later  sue- 


RECAPITULATION.  363 

cession  of  inspired  writers  to  bear  an  analogous 
testimony.  But  both  the  language  of  our  Lord 
himself  and  that  of  the  apostles  assert  for  the  New- 
Testament  the  same  inspiration  asserted  by  them 
for  the  Old.  The  inspiration  is,  therefore,  in  both 
cases  verbal. 

Chapter  XVII.  The  great  mass  of  the  objec- 
tions entertained  against  the  verbal  inspiration  of 
Scripture  proceed  from  a  misapprehension  of  the 
meaning  of  verbal  inspiration,  and  are  removed, 
almost  without  exception,  by  the  simple  rule  of 
maintaining  the  perfect  human  element  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  perfect  Divine  element  upon  the  other. 
Two  classes  of  objection  alone  require  further  con- 
sideration. I.  Objections  founded  on  the  variety 
of  subject-matter,  and  the  supposed  incongruity  of 
imputing  to  an  immediate  revelation  of  God  details 
apparently  trivial  and  relative  to  matters  knowable 
by  man  himself.  It  has,  however,  been  previously 
shown  (1)  that  the  minute  details  of  history  enter 
necessarily  into  the  structural  unity  of  the  entire 
revelation ;  (2)  that  the  doctrines  of  Scripture  are, 
in  many  unquestionable  particulars,  dependent  upon 
its  historical  details;  (3)  that  in  these  elements  alone 
could  the  means  of  verifying  the  truth  of  Scripture 
possibly  be  opposed  to  us.  It  must  be  farther  added, 
that  what  is  knowable  by  man  is  not  always  and  of 
necessity  known,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  frequently 
unknown,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  any  human  re- 
search and  discovery.  If,  therefore,  it  be  consistent 
that  the  doctrines  should  be  revealed  under  Divine 


364  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

inspiration,  it  must  be  equally  consistent  that  the 
facts  inseparably  connected  with  them  should  be 
under  the  same  influence.  Accordingly,  when  the 
attempt  is  made  to  separate  the  doctrinal  and  the 
historical  portions  of  Scripture  from  each  other,  it 
is  found  to  be  practically  impossible,  since  they  are 
so  blended  together  in  the  same  passages,  and  even 
in  the  same  verses,  and  so  mutually  dependent  upon 
each  other  as  to  reduce  the  attempt  to  separate 
them  to  an  absurdity.  II.  The  other  class  of  ob- 
jections is  founded  on  the  allegation  that  our  exist- 
ing text  is  proved  not  to  be  identical  with  the 
original  autographs,  since,  of  the  existing  varia- 
tions, one  only  can  be  true ;  whereas  it  is  assumed 
that  if  the  words  of  Scripture  had  been  inspired, 
God  would  have  provided,  even  at  the  cost  of  a 
miracle,  for  its  exact  preservation.  But,  in  answer, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  all  speculative  conjec- 
tures respecting  what  we  think  God  would  have 
done  under  certain  circumstances  have  no  weight 
whatever  against  the  evidence  of  positive  facts. 
Moreover,  it  goes  too  far.  For  if  the  existing  text 
be  not  the  text  of  the  original  autographs,  the  fact 
not  only  destroys  the  verbal  inspiration  of  Scrip- 
ture, but  its  authority  likewise.  Moreover,  an  exam- 
ination of  these  variations  proves  that  they  not  only 
occur  in  unimportant  matters,  but  that  their  own 
character  is  so  utterly  unimportant  as  not  to  affect 
even  a  crucial  word,  much  less  touch  a  distinctive 
meaning ;  still  less  modify  a  doctrine.  Not  only 
practically,  but  substantively,  the  existing  text  of 
the  Scriptures  is  identical  with  the  original  auto- 


RECAPITULATION.  365 

graphs.  Not  only,  therefore,  is  the  conclusion 
founded  on  the  fact  unsound,  but  the  fact  itself  is 
misapprehended. 

From  these  data  I  draw  the  following  conclu- 
sions : 

1.  That  the  canonical  Scriptures,  as  at  present 
existing,  are  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  terms 
God's  Word  written. 

2.  That  in  the  composition  of  Scripture  two  ele- 
ments or  two  parties  necessarily  concurred,  and  in 
no  one  part  of  the  Scripture  can  they  be  separated — 
the  part  which  man  had  in  their  composition  being 
what  is  called  the  human  element,  and  the  part 
which  God  had  being  what  is  called  the  Divine 
element. 

3.  That  the  characteristics  of  each  party  remain 
intact,  all  that  is  peculiar  to  man  on  the  one  side, 
and  all  that  is  peculiar  to  God  on  the  other  side ; 
so  that  the  books  resulting  from  the  concurrence 
of  the  two  are  not  less  human  because  they  are 
Divine,  and  not  less  Divine  because  they  are  human. 

4.  That  the  relation  between  these  two  concur- 
ring parties  is  the  relation  of  an  inferior  and  a  supe- 
rior, the  part  which  man  had  in  the  composition  of 
Scripture  being  throughout  subordinate  and  instru- 
mental, and  the  part  which  God  had  in  their  com- 
position primary  and  authoritative. 

5.  That  while  the  Divine  agency  in  the  produc- 
tion of  Scripture  was  wider  than  the  human,  inas- 
much as  the  origination  of  the  plan  and  the  selec- 
tion of  the  agents  preceded  the  action  of  the  human 

16* 


366  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

instruments,  in  no  particular  did  it  fall  short  of  it, 
or  leave  the  human  instrumentality  to  itself. 

6.  That  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the 
minds  of  the  sacred  writers  did  not  cease  with  the 
revelation  to  them  of  the  matters  they  were  em- 
ployed to  write,  but  extended  also  to  their  convey- 
ance of  this  divinely  revealed  truth  to  others. 

7.  That  this  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  conve- 
niently expressed  by  the  word  "inspiration,"  which 
expresses  the  part  taken  by  God  in  the  composition 
of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  the  authority  with 
which  they  are  invested  by  virtue  of  this  Divine 
action. 

8.  That  inspiration  is  both  plenary  and  verbal : 
plenary,  inasmuch  as  God's  attributes  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  perfect  truth  have  found  expression 
through  it ;  verbal,  because  the  vehicle  of  its  expres- 
sioa  is — as  it  could  only  be  in  a  communication  to 
mankind — the  vehicle  of  words. 

9.  That,  because  the  Scriptures  are  God's  "Word 
written,  they  therefore  contain  infallible  truth,  and 
nothing  but  truth,  and  are  invested  with  sovereign 
authority  in  all  matters  of  belief  and  practice. 


CONCLUSION.  8G7 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

CONCLUSION. 

Testimony  of  Christian  Experience — Value  and  Influence  of  the 
Words  of  Scripture — Christian  Hymns  and  the  Christian  Bible — 
The  Instrument  of  Conversion  and  Sanctification  through  the 
Spirit — Particular  Texts — The  Indefinable  Power  and  Tone  of 
the  Word — Fanaticism  or  Faith — Practical  Comforts  of  God's 
Word  Written. 

I  haye  endeavored,  in  the  preceding  pages,  to 
rest  my  argument  entirely  upon  facts.  I  have  also 
selected  such  facts  as  lie  within  the  knowledge  of 
all  men,  and  are  generally  admitted  to  be  true ;  so 
that  those  who  dissent  from  my  account  of  inspira- 
tion must  direct  their  opposition  not  against  the 
facts,  but  only  against  my  conclusions  from  them. 
I  have  therefore  omitted  all  reference  to  the  facts 
of  Christian  experience,  lest  some  who  are  devoid 
of  this  experience  should  deny  them  as  facts  or 
demur  to  their  validity  as  arguments.  But  I  can- 
not do  so  much  violence  to  my  own  convictions  as 
to  close  the  subject  without  a  brief  reference  to 
them. 

The  doctrine  of  the  verbal  inspiration  of  Holy 
Scripture  is  singularly  accordant  with  the  results 
of  Christian  experience.  There  is  a  natural,  and  I 
believe  inevitable  tendency  to  cling  to  the  very 
words  of  the  Bible  with  an  affectionate  reverence 
entertained  towards  no  other  book.  The  feeling 
entertained  towards  some  familiar  hymn  supplies 


368  GOD'S  WOKD  WEITTEN. 

the  nearest  parallel ;  and  jet  it  differs  alike  in  de- 
gree and  in  kind  from  the  loving  solemnity  gathered 
round  the  word  of  God.  Our  fondness  for  hymns 
is  a  more  familiar  feeling,  and  arises  from  their 
adaptation  to  thoughts  and  emotions  working  within 
our  own  minds,  and  perhaps  vainly  seeking  expres- 
sion in  our  own  words.  But  our  love  to  the  word 
of  God  arises  from  what  it  brings  to  the  soul,  not 
from  the  emotions  it  evokes  from  it,  and  is  deeply 
colored  by  our  sense  of  its  power  and  majesty. 
With  the  hymn,  we  feel  that  the  utterance  is  of 
man  ;  with  the  Bible,  we  feel  that  the  utterance  is 
of  God.  The  one  touches  the  chords  of  a  human 
sympathy  ;  the  other  is  clothed  with  the  authority 
of  a  Divine  wisdom  and  the  infinite  tenderness  of  a 
Divine  love.  The  language  of  the  psalmist  expresses, 
now  as  ever,  the  utterance  of  Christian  experience : 
"  O  how  I  love  thy  law."  "  The  law  of  thy  mouth 
is  better  unto  me  than  thousands  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver."    Psa.  119:97,  72. 

Thus,  not  the  hymn,  but  the  word  of  God,  is  the 
ordinary  instrument  of  conversion.  There  may  be 
exceptions,  but  in  the  vast  majority  of  instances  a 
text  of  the  Bible  constitutes  the  weapon  of  the  op- 
erating Spirit  of  God.  The  Bible  itself  would  lead 
us  to  expect  this  ;  for  St.  Peter  describes  the  saints 
as  "  born  again  ...  by  the  word  of  God,  which  liv- 
eth  and  abideth  for  ever."     1  Peter  1:23. 

But  the  affectionate  reverence  thus  formed  for 
the  word  is  deepened  by  the  various  experiences  of 
life.  It  is  from  this  that  we  have  drawn  comfort 
in  time  of  sorrow,  encouragement  and  strength  in 


CONCLUSION.  369 

times  of  despondent  weakness.  At  periods  of  per- 
plexity, we  have  gone  to  this  source  for  direction, 
and  have  found  some  guiding  principle  to  solve  the 
present  difficult}',  and  point  out  the  path  of  duty  as 
with  a  ray  of  heavenly  light.  Our  enlarging  affec- 
tions have  drunk  deeply  of  this  spring.  Here  we 
have  learned  our  deeper  lessons  both  of  ourselves 
and  God — broad  promises,  so  free  and  large  that  a 
child  could  understand  them  —  mysteries  so  pro- 
found that  the  loftiest  intellect  is  lost  in  their  heights 
and  depths. 

In  the  course  of  such  an  experience,  our  inward 
life  becomes  bound  up  more  and  more  with  partic- 
ular texts.  Not  that  we  rest  exclusively  on  these, 
but,  from  their  sweetness,  are  led  on  to  drink  the 
more  deeply  of  the  fountains  whence  they  flow. 
One  particular  text  was  the  means  of  conversion  ; 
another  was  brought  to  the  mind  at  the  moment  of 
some  peculiar  temptation ;  a  third  was  specially 
fixed  upon  the  memory  by  circumstances  of  place, 
or  time,  or  person ;  a  fourth  flashed  upon  the  soul 
at  some  time  of  meditation,  or  it  may  be,  in  the 
midst  of  life's  activities,  with  the  vividness  and 
intensity  of  a  message  from  heaven.  The  lights 
and  shadows  of  our  inward  life  have  been  reflected 
in  these  special  portions  of  the  word ;  but  in  each 
case  particular  texts,  and  perhaps  particular  words 
of  texts,  have  supplied  the  soul's  nutriment.  Not 
the  word  at  large,  in  its  grand  perfection,  but  por- 
tions of  the  word,  have  blended  themselves  up  inti- 
mately with  the  varying  experiences  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  and  the  events  of  the  soul's  history. 


370  GOD'S  WORD  WRITTEN. 

This  association  of  our  affections  with  the  Bible 
at  large  through  its  separate  words  in  particular  is 
inevitable.  Many  precious  truths  lie  as  it  were 
imbedded  in  other  passages  without  themselves 
forming  any  inseparable  portion  of  their  general 
scope  and  sense.  They  may  therefore  be  taken,  so 
to  speak,  out  of  the  material  in  which  they  are 
imbedded,  and  treated  as  of  themselves  utterances 
from  the  tongue  of  God.  In  so  treating  many  texts, 
we  only  use  them  as  the  inspired  writers  used  them ; 
as,  for  instance,  when  St.  Paul  adopts  the  promise 
of  God  to  Abraham  as  a  ground  of  confidence  to  all 
Christians  :  "  For  he  hath  said,  I  will  never  leave 
thee  nor  forsake  thee."  Heb.  13:5.  Not  only  do 
Ave,  in  all  cases,  gather  the  sense  from  the  words* 
but  we  cannot  separate  the  sense  from  the  words 
without  losiDg  their  depth  of  meaning  and  singular 
richness  of  comfort.  Try  to  take  the  sense  and  to 
fling  the  words  away,  and  we  shall  find  that  we  have 
flung  away  in  the  effort  their  beauty  and  signifi- 
cance. We  hang,  as  it  were,  over  every  word,  and 
ponder  it  again  and  again  ;  and  yet  find  that  we 
never  exhaust  its  power  and  meaning.  Let  us  take, 
for  instance,  such  an  expression  as  the  wonderful 
words  of  St.  John,  "God  is  love."  1  John  4:8. 
Very  few  and  simple  are  the  words,  but  what  mind 
can  measure  all  their  depths  and  blessedness  ? 

I  believe,  moreover,  that  experience  teaches  us 
still  more  than  this.  It  is  possible  for  us  to  gather 
the  sense  out  of  the  words  of  a  text,  and  yet  find, 
nevertheless,  that  the  words  have  a  power  of  their 
own,  like  the  fragrance  of  some  sweet  flower  that 


CONCLUSION.  371 

we  lay  next  our  hearts.  The  soul  seems  to  imbibe, 
from  contact  with  the  very  words,  a  certain  inde- 
scribable tone  and  spirit,  as  if  the  mind,  in  its  pray- 
erful meditation,  grew  into  the  text,  and  through  the 
text  came  into  contact  with  the  mind  of  the  inspi- 
ring Deity.  What  Christian  man  has  not  repeated 
the  words  of  a  text  over  and  over  and  over  again, 
as  if  they  were  a  strain  of  sweet  music — a  breath 
fresh  from  the  other  and  the  better  world  ? 

Certain  it  is  that,  whether  we  will  or  not,  the 
very  words  of  Scripture  become  consecrated  to  us, 
not  as  husks  which  we  dismiss,  after  winnowing 
from  them  the  precious  seed  they  contained,  but 
as  jewels ;  or  rather,  we  enshrine  them  in  our 
hearts  as  a  thousand  times  more  precious  than 
jewels.  The  soul  lives  upon  them  and  feeds  upon 
them,  as  being  instinct  with  that  living  Spirit  of 
God,  who  speaks  and  works  in  them  with  all  the 
power  of  the  infinite  mind  of  a  living  Creator  upon 
the  receptive  mind  of  the  living  creature.  Thus  we 
do  not  worship  the  word,  however  much  our  inner 
life  is  bound  up  with  it,  but  the  living  God  from 
whom  it  comes. 

This  experience  must  be  a  kind  of  fanaticism,  a 
mere  reflection  of  our  own  emotions,  if  the  Scrip- 
tures be  not  verbally  inspired.  If  they  are,  it  is  in 
accordance  with  the  soundest  dictates  of  the  rea- 
son, as  well  as  with  the  truest  instincts  of  the  affec- 
tions. In  the  one  case  it  is  a  thing  to  be  ashamed 
of  and  to  avoid.  In  the  other  case,  it  is  a  thing  to 
be  thankful  for,  and  to  cherish  with  all  our  hearts. 
This  necessity  of  the  soul,  which  compels  it  to  cling 


372  GOD'S  WOED  WRITTEN. 

to  the  very  words  of  Scripture,  appears  to  roe  to  be 
an  inward  witness  to  its  verbal  inspiration.  For 
thus  the  judgment  of  the  head  and  the  emotions  of 
the  heart  go  hand  in  hand,  like  two  instruments 
touched  by  the  same  gracious  Spirit  of  God,  and 
emitting  beneath  his  touch  the  same  sweet  song  of 
love  and  praise.  It  would  be  strange  if  the  head 
condemned  what  the  heart  felt  to  be  a  necessity ; 
or  if  the  heart  failed  to  place  its  seal  of  experience 
on  what  the  head  believed ;  strangest  of  all  would 
it  be,  if  a  doctrine  thus  accordant  with  head  and 
heart  should  be  visionary  and  superstitious.  Let 
us  believe  that  God  is  consistent  in  grace  as  he  is 
in  nature,  and  quickens  the  heart  to  feel  what  he 
enables  the  judgment  to  apprehend.  The  words  of 
Scripture  are  of  God,  and  the  soul  rightly  clings  to 
them. 

I  rejoice  to  believe  that  towards  this  doctrine  of 
verbal  inspiration  the  common  mind  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  is  more  and  more  decidedly  tending,  as 
affording  the  only  consistent  explanation  of  the 
plain  facts  of  the  case.  TVhatever  may  be  the  issue 
o£  existing  controversies,  he  alone  can  stand  in  calm 
security  who  places  his  feet  on  this  "  word  of  God, 
which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever."  1  Peter  1:23. 
To  him  alone  the  past  can  be  clear,  the  present 
blessed,  the  future  hopeful,  who  believes  that  no 
human  fraud  has  sullied  the  purity,  and  no  human 
ignorance  clouded  the  infallible  truth,  of  "  God's 
Word  written." 


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